Inheriting an old painting almost inevitably raises the same questions. Who painted it? How old is it really? Is the signature authentic? Should it be cleaned? And, ultimately, does the painting have any financial value? Do not make that last question your first.
With an inherited painting, the first priority is not to determine its value, but to preserve information. A painting is more than just its painted surface. The support, the frame, the reverse, old labels, inventory numbers, inscriptions, family documents and even historic photographs may contain information that later proves important for identification, dating, provenance research and valuation.
Anyone who is too quick to clean a painting, remove an old frame or peel a label from the reverse because it appears unimportant may inadvertently destroy information that can never be recovered.
What you should definitely not do
The impulse to “freshen up” an old painting is understandable. Yet cleaning is one of the first things experts advise against.
A yellowed or darkened paint surface is not necessarily dirty. What is visible on the surface may consist of surface grime, discoloured varnish, old retouching, overpainting, or a combination of these. Without understanding the structure of the paint and varnish layers, it is impossible to determine which treatment would be safe.
For that reason, do not use water, alcohol or saliva, for example. Even a soft cloth is not necessarily harmless. If the paint layer is unstable, even slight mechanical contact may be enough to dislodge particles of paint. The same applies to other well-intentioned interventions.
Leave the old frame in place for the time being
A damaged, dark or old-fashioned frame is sometimes immediately dismissed as worthless. That is unwise.
A frame may be later than the painting, but it may also have a historic connection with the work. Old labels, numbers, chalk inscriptions and mounting materials can also contain information about previous owners, dealers, exhibitions or auctions. Old-looking materials do not automatically make a painting old, just as an antique frame does not prove that the painting itself was made in the same period.
A signature is a clue, not a conclusion
This is where things go wrong surprisingly often. A painting bears, for example, the name “J. Israëls”, “Corot”, “Maris”, “Koekkoek” or that of another well-known artist. The owner searches for the name, sees auction results in the thousands or tens of thousands of euros and concludes that their own painting probably belongs in the same price range.
That is not how attribution works. A signature must always be examined in relation to the painting as a whole. Is the signature positioned logically within or on top of the paint layer? Does it appear to have been applied at the same time as the painting? Monograms, initials and difficult-to-read names may also be significant.
Equally important, an unsigned painting is not necessarily unimportant. There are significant paintings with no visible signature, while countless signed paintings have only limited commercial value. The quality and identity of the object take precedence over the name written on it.
Examine the reverse at least as carefully as the front
A painting sometimes reveals a significant part of its history on the reverse. There may be labels from art dealers, auction numbers, collection or inventory numbers, owners’ names, handwritten dates and titles. Such information can be exceptionally useful in provenance research.
By provenance, we mean the history of ownership and location of a work of art from the time of its creation to the present day. This history may be reconstructed from sources including inventories, old auction catalogues, correspondence, exhibition catalogues, collection records, labels, stamps, invoices and inscriptions on the work itself.
Never discard old labels. Even a name that means nothing to you today may later prove to be precisely the missing link. A number written in pencil may appear meaningless, yet details of exactly this kind can connect an object to a historic collection or sale.
Write down what your family still remembers
When dealing with an inheritance, you have access to something a future buyer may no longer have: your family’s oral history. Record that information before it is lost.
Who did the painting originally come from? Did it already belong to a grandparent or great-grandparent? Does anyone know when it was purchased? Have any receipts, letters, inventory lists, insurance documents or appraisals been preserved?
Old does not automatically mean valuable
This is perhaps the most important misconception surrounding inherited art. A painting may be one hundred, two hundred or three hundred years old and still have only modest commercial value. Conversely, a considerably more recent work may be highly sought after. Age, therefore, is not an independent measure of value.
A market-based assessment takes several factors into account simultaneously. Depending on the type of painting, relevant factors may include the artist or possible artist, the certainty of the attribution, artistic quality, the period within the artist’s oeuvre, size, condition and market interest in the artist’s work.
That is why the question “How much is a painting by artist X worth?” is not sufficiently precise. The relevant question is: how does this particular work compare with sufficiently similar works that have actually sold on the market?
What is my painting worth?
The word value itself also requires precision. An auction estimate, for example, is not the same as an insurance value. Nor is an online asking price the same as an actual sale price.
That distinction is important. Paintings are frequently offered online at prices that are subsequently cited as evidence of market value. But an advertisement proves only that someone is asking a particular price. It does not prove that a buyer is willing to pay it.
The works used for comparison must also be sufficiently relevant. A small, late work by an artist cannot simply be compared with a large early masterpiece, even if the same name appears beneath both paintings. Differences in condition, provenance, exhibition history, publication history and certainty of attribution, among other factors, can have a major effect on value.
Condition: when are tears and craquelure serious?
An old painting with no visible signs of age whatsoever is the exception rather than the rule. Craquelure, the network of fine cracks that can develop in layers of paint and sometimes varnish is not, in itself, necessarily a cause for concern.
Tears or holes in the canvas, water damage, old overpainting and severe warping of a wooden panel also deserve attention. A damaged painting is not necessarily worthless, however. The economic significance of damage depends in part on the artist, the rarity and quality of the work, the extent and location of the damage, and the nature of any previous restoration.
A small restoration in an insignificant area of the background is very different from extensive paint loss in the face of a portrait. Here too, context is crucial. Before incurring substantial restoration costs, it is also important to establish approximately what the painting represents in both art-historical and economic terms.
Can scientific analysis determine who painted a picture?
In some cases, technical examination can provide important information. Depending on the painting, specialists may investigate pigments, wood species, tree rings in panels, underdrawings and the materials used.
A range of analytical techniques is available for this purpose, including infrared reflectography, ultraviolet examination, dendrochronological analysis and pigment analysis. Such techniques can be exceptionally valuable. But technical analysis is not a machine that produces the painter’s name after a single test.
Materials analysis may, for example, establish that a particular pigment only became available much later than the painting’s supposed date. In suitable wooden panels, dendrochronology can provide information about the growth period of the timber used and thereby establish limits for a possible date.
X-ray examination can reveal changes to a composition. Infrared examination can, in certain cases, reveal an underdrawing. The final assessment is generally based on a combination of art-historical, stylistic, technical/material and provenance research.
For that reason, an inherited painting is not automatically subjected to an expensive battery of technical tests. The first step is to determine whether the object provides sufficient grounds to justify further investigation.
I found a work by the same artist online for €25,000. Does that mean my painting is worth the same?
Not necessarily. This is one of the most common pitfalls of independent research. Suppose you own a painting bearing the name of a well-known nineteenth-century landscape painter. You then find the following online: a work offered for €4,500, an auction result of €18,000, a painting offered by an art dealer for €32,500, and another work that sold for €1,200.
Which price is correct? Potentially all of them. The works may differ in size, subject, period, quality and condition. One may be fully documented, while another is merely attributed to the artist. One may date from the artist’s most sought-after period, while another comes from a weaker or commercially less desirable phase.
A gallery price may also arise within a different market context from an auction result. This is precisely why it is risky to use a single price found online as a benchmark.
What are my options if I want to sell the painting?
Once there is sufficient clarity about what you own, the commercial question becomes relevant. Broadly speaking, there are two obvious routes: selling to or through an art dealer, or selling through an auction house.
The first option can be attractive when speed, discretion and a targeted approach to the market are important. A dealer may buy the work directly or, depending on their business model, act as an intermediary in the sale. In some cases, this may produce a higher return. An auction can be appropriate when a painting fits well within an established collecting market and competition between bidders is desirable.
Do not focus solely on the estimated sale price. Pay close attention to the seller’s commission, transport costs, insurance, the reserve price and the consequences if the work remains unsold. Ultimately, the relevant question is not simply the hammer price, but how much the seller receives net after all costs.
Having the painting appraised
Old appraisal reports regularly turn up in inheritances. Never throw them away. An old appraisal may contain valuable information about an earlier attribution and a previous valuation. The amount stated in it, however, may now say very little about the current market.
Can a painting be appraised solely on the basis of photographs? Photographs are excellent for an initial screening and preliminary assessment. They may be sufficient to establish that a painting probably falls outside a particular market segment, or conversely that further investigation would be advisable. But photographs have limitations. They do not always provide a reliable view of the actual paint surface, old restorations, fine craquelure or later additions.
First understand what you own, then decide what to do with it
An inherited painting may ultimately prove to be an important work of art, a readily marketable painting by a regional artist, a decorative work with limited commercial value, or above all an object of considerable personal significance.
Who made it, or who might have made it? When does it date from? How was it made? What provenance can be established? What condition is it in? What restoration may have taken place? And with which works that have actually sold can it reasonably be compared? Only when these questions are asked in the right order does a meaningful discussion of value become possible.
Do you have a particular interest in this artist or in this subject?
Do you follow this artist, or have you come across a work you would like to know more about? We regularly research works appearing on the market and are always happy to exchange views on quality, provenance, art-historical context and previous auction results. You can contact us directly via info@antonello.art.