Art Glossary: 60 Terms for Valuing Paintings and Fine Art

How to use this art glossary

This art glossary explains the terms you meet in auction catalogues, condition reports and appraisals, from attribution wording to the buyer's premium. Jump to a letter, follow «See also» to related terms, and upload a photo for a free estimate when you want to know what your own piece may be worth.

A

Acrylic paint

A fast-drying, water-based paint with a synthetic resin binder, sold to artists since the mid-20th century. A painting in acrylic cannot be older than that, which helps to date a work and to spot later copies.

Also called: acrylics, acrylic on canvas, acrylic painting

After (copy after)

A copy of a known work by the named artist, made at any date and by anyone. Old copies can have their own value, but far below that of the original.

Also called: copy after, after the original

Appraisal

A written, signed report by a qualified appraiser that states the purpose, the type of value, the effective date, a description of the work and the comparables used. Unlike an informal estimate, it can be presented to insurers, tax authorities and courts.

Also called: appraisals, appraisal report, written appraisal

Appraiser credentials (USPAP, ASA, AAA, ISA)

In the United States, art appraisals for tax and insurance are expected to follow USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice). The American Society of Appraisers (ASA), the Appraisers Association of America (AAA) and the International Society of Appraisers (ISA) accredit members after training and testing.

Also called: USPAP, American Society of Appraisers, Appraisers Association of America, International Society of Appraisers, accredited appraiser

Artist's proof

An impression printed outside the numbered edition, traditionally kept by the artist and marked AP or E.A. Artist's proofs are usually valued about the same as numbered impressions of the same print.

Also called: artist proof, artist's proofs, épreuve d'artiste

Attributed to

Catalogue wording meaning that a work is probably by the artist, in whole or in part, but with less certainty than a full attribution. The exact definitions are in each auction house's explanation of cataloguing terms.

Also called: attributed to the artist

Attribution

The expert opinion on who made a work. Auction catalogues express it in graded terms, from the artist's full name to «attributed to», «studio of», «circle of», «school of» or «after», each with a lower degree of certainty and usually a much lower price.

Also called: attributions, cataloguing terms, attributed work

Auction estimate (presale estimate)

The price range printed in the auction catalogue, the specialist's expectation of the hammer price. It does not include the buyer's premium, and lots can sell well below or far above it.

Also called: presale estimate, pre-sale estimate, low estimate, high estimate

B

Bought in

A lot that does not reach its reserve and remains unsold. A work that has recently failed at auction can be harder to sell for a while, so the choice of estimate and reserve matters.

Also called: unsold lot, unsold at auction, passed lot

Buyer's premium

A percentage the buyer pays the auction house on top of the hammer price, often plus VAT or sales tax. Rates differ between houses and price bands and are stated in the conditions of sale.

Also called: buyer's premium, buyers premium, auction premium

C

Canvas stamp (colourman's stamp)

A stamp of the art supply dealer on the back of the canvas or stretcher, such as Winsor & Newton in London or Lefranc in Paris. Because these firms and their addresses changed over time, the stamp can help to date a painting.

Also called: colourman's stamp, colorman's stamp, supplier's stamp

Catalogue raisonné

A scholarly, annotated list of all known works by an artist, or all works in one medium, usually compiled by experts or the artist's foundation. Being included strongly supports authenticity and value; a missing work can be very hard to sell.

Also called: catalogue raisonne, catalog raisonné, catalog raisonne, catalogues raisonnés

Certificate of authenticity (COA)

A document stating that a work is genuine. It is only as good as its author: certificates from the artist, the estate or a recognised expert or committee count; a certificate written by the seller proves very little.

Also called: certificate of authenticity, certificates of authenticity, authenticity certificate

Circle of

A work by an unidentified artist of the same period who was closely associated with the named artist, but not necessarily a pupil. The term places the work in time and style without naming its author.

Also called: entourage of

Comparable sales (comparables)

Recent sales of similar works: same artist, medium, size, period, subject and condition. Appraisers base market value mainly on comparables, usually taken from auction records.

Also called: comparable sales, comps, auction records, price database

Condition report

A written description of a work's physical state: damage, losses, repairs, retouching, discolouration and the state of the frame. Auction houses provide one on request, and you should read it before bidding or selling.

Also called: condition reports, condition check

Consignment

Handing a work to an auction house or dealer who sells it on your behalf; you remain the owner until it is sold. Commission, fees, insurance and the reserve are set out in the consignment agreement.

Also called: consignor, consignment agreement

Contemporary art

Art of the present day and the recent past, often defined as work made after 1945 or after 1970. Prices of living artists can rise or fall quickly, so recent sales count more than old ones.

Also called: contemporary artists, post-war and contemporary

Craquelure

A network of fine cracks in the paint and varnish that forms as an oil painting ages. It is normal in old paintings; artificially induced or printed cracks are a warning sign of forgery or a reproduction.

Also called: cracks in the paint, age cracks, crackle

D

Deaccession

The formal removal of a work from a museum or institutional collection, often followed by a sale. Such works usually come with well-documented provenance; professional codes of ethics govern how the proceeds may be used.

Also called: deaccessioned, deaccessioning

E

Edition number

The fraction written on a print, such as 25/100: the 25th impression of an edition of 100. In most editions the number does not reflect the printing order and has little influence on price.

Also called: numbered print, numbered edition, hand-numbered

Etching

An intaglio print: the artist draws through an acid-resistant coating on a metal plate, and acid bites the lines into the metal. Ink is pressed out of the lines under high pressure, which often leaves a platemark around the image.

Also called: etchings

F

Fair market value

The price at which a work would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither under compulsion and both with reasonable knowledge of the facts (the definition in IRS Publication 561). It is the value used for donations and estates in the United States.

Also called: FMV

Forgery

A work made or altered to deceive buyers about who made it or when. A copy becomes a forgery as soon as it carries a false signature or is sold as the original.

Also called: forgeries, fake, fakes, art forgery, forger

Foxing

Brownish spots on paper caused by moisture, mould and impurities in the paper. Foxing lowers the value of prints, drawings and watercolours, but a paper conservator can often reduce it.

Also called: foxed, foxing spots

Frame

The frame protects and presents a work. Antique or period frames can have value of their own, but a frame says nothing about who painted the picture and is often replaced.

Also called: picture frame, period frame, gilt frame

G

Gallery price (retail price)

The asking price at a gallery or dealer, which includes the dealer's costs and margin. It is usually higher than what a private seller receives for a similar work at auction.

Also called: retail price, dealer price, asking price

Giclée (fine art inkjet print)

A high-quality inkjet print, a name introduced in the early 1990s. It is used for reproductions of paintings and for some editions approved by artists; a giclée of a painting is a copy, not an original.

Also called: giclee, giclée print, giclee print, inkjet print, archival pigment print

Gouache

An opaque water-based paint, used mainly on paper. Unlike watercolour it covers the paper and dries matte, so it can look like a small painting rather than a wash.

Also called: body colour, bodycolour

H

Hammer price

The final bid accepted by the auctioneer when the hammer falls. The buyer pays the buyer's premium and any taxes on top; published auction results often include the premium.

Also called: hammer prices, final bid

I

Impressionism

A movement that began in France in the 1860s and 1870s, with a first group exhibition in Paris in 1874. Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Degas, Sisley and Morisot painted light and everyday scenes with visible, quick brushstrokes, often outdoors.

Also called: impressionist, impressionists, impressionist painting

L

Limited edition

A print run whose size is fixed in advance, after which the plate, stone or file should no longer be used. A small edition, a hand signature and good condition all support the value; the word «limited» alone does not.

Also called: limited editions, limited-edition print, edition size

Lithograph

A print drawn with greasy crayon or ink on stone or a metal plate, based on the fact that grease and water repel each other. The technique was invented by Alois Senefelder at the end of the 18th century; many «lithographs» sold today are in fact offset reproductions.

Also called: lithography, lithographs, stone lithograph

M

Manner of (style of)

A work in the style of the named artist but made later, often much later. It says nothing about who painted it and is one of the weakest catalogue attributions.

Also called: style of, in the manner of, in the style of

Modern art

Art from roughly the late 19th century to the 1960s or 1970s, from Post-Impressionism to Cubism, Surrealism and abstraction. Auction houses usually sell it together with Impressionism, but the exact period limits differ from house to house.

Also called: modernism, modern painting

Monogram

Initials or interlaced letters that an artist uses instead of a full signature, such as Albrecht Dürer's AD. Monograms are often copied, so they need the same careful comparison as signatures.

Also called: monogrammed, artist's monogram

O

Offset print

A commercial printing process in which ink passes from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to paper. Under a magnifying glass you see a regular pattern of tiny coloured dots, a sure sign of a mechanical reproduction.

Also called: offset lithograph, offset lithography, offset prints

Oil on canvas

Pigments bound in a drying oil such as linseed oil, painted on linen or cotton canvas stretched over a wooden frame. For centuries it has been the standard technique of European easel painting and the most common entry in auction catalogues.

Also called: oil painting, oil paintings, oil paint

Old master

A European painter working before about 1800, or a painting by one. Auction houses hold separate Old Master sales, where attribution, condition and provenance weigh more than anywhere else.

Also called: old masters, old master painting, old master paintings

Original print

A print made from a plate, stone, block or screen that the artist created or supervised, such as a lithograph, etching or woodcut. Each impression counts as an original work, unlike a reproduction of a painting.

Also called: fine art print, original prints, artist's print

P

Pastiche

A new composition that imitates an artist's style and combines typical motifs, without copying a single work. A pastiche is not a forgery in itself, but it becomes one when it is sold as a work by that artist.

Also called: pastiches

Primary market

The first sale of a work, usually by the artist's gallery or the artist directly. Prices are set by the gallery and are not public in the same way as auction results.

Also called: primary art market

Provenance

The documented history of ownership from the artist to today: invoices, gallery and exhibition labels, auction records, letters and photos. Good provenance supports authenticity and value; gaps, especially between 1933 and 1945, call for research.

Also called: ownership history, chain of ownership, provenance research

R

Recto and verso

Recto is the front of a work, verso the back. The verso often tells more than the front: labels, stamps, inscriptions, the canvas and the stretcher all help with dating and provenance.

Also called: recto, verso, reverse of the canvas

Relining (lining)

Attaching a new canvas to the back of an old, weakened canvas with adhesive to strengthen it. It is common in older paintings and visible from the back; today conservators use it more sparingly than in the past.

Also called: lined canvas, relined, lining canvas

Replacement value

What it would cost to replace a work with a comparable one within a reasonable time, usually at gallery prices. Insurers use it, and it is normally higher than fair market value.

Also called: insurance value, replacement cost, retail replacement value

Reproduction

A copy of an existing artwork made by photographic, offset or digital printing. Even a signed reproduction is not an original work, and its value is usually decorative.

Also called: reproductions, art reproduction, print reproduction

Reserve (reserve price)

The confidential minimum price agreed between the seller and the auction house. If bidding stays below it, the lot is not sold; at major houses the reserve is usually no higher than the low estimate.

Also called: reserve price, reserve prices

Restoration

Treatment to repair a damaged work: cleaning, securing loose paint, filling losses and retouching (inpainting). Careful, documented restoration is accepted; heavy overpainting reduces value and can hide the artist's own hand.

Also called: restorations, restored, retouching, inpainting, overpainting

S

School of (follower of)

A work by an artist working in the named artist's style, at the same time or a little later. Some catalogues also use «school» for a regional tradition, for example the Dutch or Venetian school.

Also called: follower of, school of painting

Secondary market

Every resale after the first sale: at auction, through dealers or privately. Auction results from the secondary market are the most important public evidence of an artist's prices.

Also called: secondary art market, resale market

Signature

The artist's name or mark on the front or back of a work. A signature supports an attribution but does not prove it: signatures are easy to add, and many genuine works are unsigned. Catalogues use «bears a signature» when they doubt it was written by the artist.

Also called: signed and dated, hand-signed

Signed in the plate

A signature that is part of the printed image because the artist drew it on the plate, stone or block. It appears on every impression and is worth much less to collectors than a signature added by hand in pencil.

Also called: plate signed, printed signature, signed in the stone

Stretcher

The wooden frame over which the canvas is stretched, usually with small wedges (keys) in the corners to tighten it. Its construction, wood and marks help to date a painting; replaced stretchers are common.

Also called: stretcher bars, stretcher bar, strainer

Studio of (workshop of)

A work made in the artist's studio by assistants or pupils, possibly under the artist's supervision. It is close to the master in date and style but is not considered by the artist's own hand.

Also called: workshop of, atelier of

T

Tempera

Paint made with egg yolk as the binder, usually on a wooden panel prepared with gesso. It was the main panel painting technique in Europe before oil paint and dries to a matte, fine surface that cannot be blended like oil.

Also called: egg tempera, tempera on panel

U

UV examination

Looking at a work under ultraviolet light (black light). Old varnish glows greenish, while later retouching often appears as dark patches, so UV light shows where a painting has been restored. It cannot prove authenticity.

Also called: UV light, ultraviolet light, black light, UV lamp

V

Varnish

A transparent protective layer over a painting. Natural resin varnishes yellow over time; removing and replacing them is delicate work for a trained conservator.

Also called: varnish layer, yellowed varnish, revarnished

W

Watercolour

Transparent water-based paint on paper, where the white of the paper gives the light. Watercolours fade in sunlight, so their condition and how they were framed and displayed matter a lot for value.

Also called: watercolor, watercolours, watercolors, aquarelle

Woodcut

A relief print: everything that should stay white is cut away from a wooden block, and the raised parts are inked and printed. It is one of the oldest printmaking techniques, used by Albrecht Dürer and in Japanese woodblock prints.

Also called: woodcuts, woodblock print, woodblock prints

Art glossary

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B

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W

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