A condition report is the document that tells you what you are actually buying, as opposed to what the photograph suggests. It is also the document most buyers skim, and the one whose silences cost the most money.
The essential thing to understand is that a condition report is written in a professional register with its own conventions. Learning to read what it does not say is more useful than reading what it does. It sits alongside provenance as one of the two documents you should never buy without.
What a Condition Report Contains
A professional report documents the current physical state of a work: damage, previous repairs, restoration, alterations, and anything affecting stability or appearance. For a painting it should address support, ground, paint layer, varnish and frame separately, because each fails differently and each costs differently to treat.
It should be accompanied by images — ideally under raking light, which throws surface irregularity into relief and reveals what flat photography conceals, and under ultraviolet, which makes retouching and varnish repairs fluoresce.
The Silences
This is the part that costs people money. Absence of comment is not a statement that condition is good. A report that does not mention the varnish has not told you the varnish is sound; it has told you nobody wrote about the varnish.
Specific things to notice when they are missing: whether the work was examined out of its frame; whether ultraviolet examination was carried out; whether the reverse was inspected; the extent and location of any retouching rather than merely its existence; and whether the report is dated recently or was written for a sale five years ago.
The most useful question you can ask a seller is short: what is not in this report? The answer, or the reluctance to give one, is informative either way.
Auction Attribution Language
Separate from condition, and governed by conventions that are precise, published, and routinely misread by newcomers. In catalogue usage the artist’s full name means the house believes the work is by that artist. Everything else is a qualification.
Attributed to — probably by, in whole or part. Studio of or workshop of — executed under supervision, not necessarily by the hand. Circle of — of the period, showing the influence, not the artist. Follower of — in the style, possibly much later. Manner of — in the style, of a later date. After — a copy.
Read plainly: only the full name is a statement of authorship. The rest tell you, with varying degrees of politeness, that the work is not by the artist named — and the price should reflect that even when the estimate suggests otherwise.
When to Commission Your Own
The report supplied by a seller was commissioned by the seller. That does not make it dishonest — most are written by competent independent conservators — but it does mean it was scoped by someone with an interest in the sale proceeding.
Commission your own when the sum at risk is large relative to the cost of an examination, when the supplied report is undated or vague, when the work is being sold as unrestored, or when photographs show anything you cannot account for. A conservator’s hour is inexpensive against a five-figure purchase.
Buying online compounds all of this, because you cannot examine the surface at all and the report substitutes entirely for the inspection you are unable to make. Insist on it before committing.
What Condition Does to Value
Condition affects price in a way that is not proportional to visual impact. Extensive retouching in a critical passage — a face, a signature area — costs far more in value than larger restoration in a background. Relining is generally accepted in older paintings and heavily penalised in twentieth-century work. Irreversible damage such as light-struck fading depresses value permanently, while stable, well-documented old repairs frequently do not.
The report is also your baseline. If you later need to make an insurance claim, prove a work deteriorated in storage or transit, or demonstrate its state at purchase, the dated report is the evidence. Keep it with the policy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a condition report?
A professional document recording an artwork’s current physical state — damage, repairs, restoration and alterations — usually with raking-light and ultraviolet images.
Is craquelure a problem?
Generally no. Fine age cracking is normal in older paintings. Active lifting, tenting or cupping is a different matter and needs a conservator’s assessment.
What does “attributed to” mean at auction?
That the house believes the work is probably by that artist, in whole or part — a qualification, not a statement of authorship. Only the full unqualified name asserts that the artist made it.
Should I get my own condition report?
For significant purchases, yes. The seller’s report was scoped by the seller. An independent conservator’s examination is inexpensive relative to the sum at risk.
Does restoration reduce value?
It depends on extent, location and disclosure. Modest, stable, documented restoration in a non-critical area is often accepted. Extensive retouching in a key passage, or undisclosed work, is heavily penalised.
Part of our series on provenance and authentication. See also: how to verify art provenance before you buy.
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