Buying Antique Oil Paintings - 1Earth Antiques and Appraisals Magazine

Look for stains, discoloration, or fading.
Paintings exposed to direct sunlight fade like anything else. Ask the seller if the painting has recently been cleaned.

In many cases, the removal of old varnish can rid a painting of stains and yellowing.

However, if it has been cleaned and still has discoloration, this may indicate the piece has sustained more serious damage.

Craquelure — cracking of the paint due to changes in climate — is generally accepted.

Is the painting Laid Down or Lined?
Know when a painting is laid down or lined. The term "laid down" generally refers to a canvas or work on paper that has been glued to cardboard or wood. A laid down painting may indicate that someone has trimmed it from its original size, or the painting might be a fragment from a much larger composition. In any case, changes were made to the original, and the back of the canvas or paper is no longer visible.

The terms "lined" and "relined" refer to a new canvas that is attached with adhesives to the back of an old canvas for support and consolidation. In this case the painting has likely retained its original sides and stretcher frame. A relined painting is acceptable when done by a skilled professional, and preferable to one that is laid down. However, look for paintings free of both.

Buy An Original
You may also find when you examine a laid down painting that it is actually a print that has been attached to canvas. Many photomechanical reproductions are printed on textured grounds and then painted details are brushed onto the print.

Look at the piece through a magnifying glass to see if there are any signs of a commercial printing process (such as little black dots laid out in a grid). The seller may not know much about the painting, and could therefore be selling a print as a painting without knowing it.

A buyer doesn't need a Ph.D. in fine art to shop sensibly for an antique painting. With a little help from the Internet and your local library, you can demystify the buying process and give yourself a little edge.