What to look for on the back of a painting — an expert guide

From its auction and exhibition history and birthplace to notes from the artist on which way is ‘ UP ’, the details found on the ‘ verso ’ can importantly enhance a paint ’ s value

1. Who, what, when… and where

first base and first, you ’ ll want to know who painted your picture. Artists started signing their works around the fifteenth hundred, and while their signatures are most normally on the front, in more holocene times they have been applied to the inverse .
Christie ’ sulfur specialists can check signatures by looking them up in the artist ’ s catalog raisonné and, sometimes, even narrow down the date a work was painted based on the development of a signature over time.

Ben Nicholson, O.M. ( 1894-1982 ), 1945 ( even life ). oil and pencil on board. 18½ ten 19¼ in ( 47 adam 48.9 curium ). Sold for £509,000 on 26 June 2017 at Christie ’ second in London. artwork : © Angela Verren Taunt. All rights reserved, DACS 2020

Nicholson ’ randomness address in Cornwall has been added bottomland left of the back of the word picture
The artist will normally besides have provided a style or date. And sometimes more besides .
‘ deoxyadenosine monophosphate well as sign, naming and dating his works on the reversion, the british artist Ben Nicholson ( 1894-1982 ) much included his address, ’ says Christie ’ s Modern British and Irish Art specialist Alice Murray. ‘ It ’ s a lovely addition that helps you build the fib behind the artwork. ’

2. Materials can narrow down a painting’s origins

Artists began switching from working on wooden panels to canvas in the 15th and 16th centuries because it enabled larger paintings. Painting on bull sheets besides became fashionable in the seventeenth hundred .
Stamps and labels from the suppliers of these materials can contain the names and addresses of their businesses. reference lists — such as Alexander Katlan ’ randomness american english Artists ’ Materials Suppliers Directory — can be used to track them down, and in turn, narrow down when and where a oeuvre was made .

Pieter Brueghel II ( Brussels 1564/5-1637/8 Antwerp ), The Outdoor Wedding Dance. 16 x 20½ in ( 40.5 adam 52 centimeter ). anoint on oak empanel. Sold for : £1,202,500 on 9 July 2015 at Christie ’ second in London

The invert of a 16th-century oil painting panel showing the mark of the city of Antwerp — a pair of hands above a palace. The target dates from 1617, when new regulations drawn up by the Antwerp Joiners ’ Guild stated ‘ every joiner is from now on obliged to punch his mark on frames and panels made by him, on pain of a ticket of three guilders ’
Comparing the date the materials were purchased with the date the artist signed the finished work can even give you an theme of how long it took to complete .
The types of materials used to create a exploit ’ s board, cradle or capstone, along with how it was constructed, besides vary over time and between places .
soft wood, such as poplar, was used in Italy, while unvoiced wood, for exemplar oak, was used in Britain and the Netherlands. Another clue can be obtained from how the canvas tent is fixed to the stretcher — staples replaced nails after the 1940s .

3. Labels indicate provenance and exhibition history

When a gallery or museum displays a solve of art it much attaches a label to its back that indicates the artist ’ mho mention, the picture ’ sulfur style, and normally a date, inventory number and address .

‘ With the advent of the internet it has become much easier to research these labels, ’ explains Impressionist and Modern Art specialist Veronica Scarpati. ‘ For model, the Museum of Modern Art has digitised all of its exhibition catalogues, press releases and lender lists as far back as 1929. ’

Sano di Pietro ( Siena 1405-1481 ), The Madonna and Child. On gold grate jury. 16 ¼ x 11⅝ in ( 41.2 adam 29.6 curium ). Sold for £170,500 on 9 July 2015 at Christie ’ mho in London

The back of Pietro ’ s painting with stencils, stickers and labels, including those of London dealer Thomas Agnew & Sons and New York gallery Wildenstein & Co .
early key players to look out for admit institutions such as the Royal Academy or the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and dealers like Richard Green, The Fine Art Society or Wildenstein & Co., as seen, top right, on the back of the picture shown above .
other labels that commemorate a paint ’ second travel can come from conservators, customs and margin controls, or even defunct bureaucratic mechanisms such as the Nazis ’ Chamber of Culture, which stamped its double-headed eagle logo on to the back of the art it looted .

4. Inscriptions will also have a story to tell

individual collectors throughout history have added their own names to the back of a exercise. King Charles I of England ( 1600-1649 ), for exemplar, branded his initials ‘ CR ’ topped with a crown onto the reverse of works in his royal solicitation .

Ivon Hitchens ( 1893-1979 ), Hills and Darkening Sky : rain over the Downs. petroleum on canvas. 12½ adam 18½ in ( 31.7 ten 47 curium ). Sold for £32,500 on 23 January 2020 at Christie ’ south in London. artwork : © The Estate of Ivon Hitchens. All rights reserved, DACS 2020

Allen Freer ’ s handwritten birthplace is on the bed of the stretcher for Hills and Darkening Sky
‘ On the back of this landscape [ above ] by Ivon Hitchens ( 1893-1979 ) you have the stamp of his wife, Mollie, a well as a belated, handwritten note placing it in the collection of Allen and Beryl Freer, ’ explains Alice Murray .

Sebastiano Conca ( 1680-1764 ), The Madonna and Child Releasing Souls from Purgatory. oil on canvas. 18⅜ adam 12¼ in ( 46.7 ten 31.2 curium ). Sold for £10,000 on 5 July 2019 at Christie ’ randomness in London

The back of Conca ’ s painting features a handwritten inscription indicating that is was endow to one D. Domenico Guastaferro

In 2019, Christie ’ s sold a painting [ above ] by Sebastiano Conca ( 1680-1764 ), which contains an old hand-written note that describes its title, date and the fact it was a bozzetto — or sketch — for paint, ampere well as providing some birthplace — that it was gifted to one D. Domenico Guastaferro in July 1748 .
If you decide to add a back to the back of your painting, it might be an idea to use Perspex so that the labels remain visible, or ask a paper conservator to carefully transfer them onto the raw display panel .

5. Inventory numbers reveal a work’s auction history

Since the early nineteenth century Christie ’ second has marked the back of pictures with an armory number. Initially these numbers were stencilled in black ink, while early auction houses used chalk. ( Today, rather than stencilling numbers on the back of pictures, it is more common for a spine with a barcode to be applied. )
‘ These numbers correspond to records that tell us when and where something was sold, and sometimes who sold it and what price was paid, ’ explains Christie ’ sulfur librarian and archivist Lynda Macleod. ‘ The Christie ’ sulfur archives in London has details of most of the sales held during the auction theater ’ s 254 years in occupation. ’
‘ When cataloguing paintings these stencils allow us not entirely to piece together birthplace, but besides to see if the work has been attributed to different artists in the past, ’ adds Olivia Ghosh, a specialist in Christie ’ s Old Masters department .

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn ( 1606-1669 ) and Studio, Man with a Sword. oil on canvas. 40¼ ten 35 in ( 102.3 adam 88.5 curium ). Sold for £2,200,000 on 3 December 2013 at Christie ’ mho in London

The reverse of Rembrandt ’ s Man with a Sword showing its auction stencils, and in the center, an 1898 Amsterdam exhibition label
In 2013, Christie ’ s sold a portrait by Rembrandt ( 1606-1669 ) and his studio apartment which had ‘ 272ER ’ stencilled on the spinal column. ‘ That pointed us to a 1928 auction at Christie ’ sulfur of a collection belonging to Sir George Lindsay Holford, ’ Ghosh explains .
‘ From there we traced the paint ’ s birthplace bet on to his father, Robert Stayner Holford, who was the founder of the Burlington Fine Arts Club and owned three early Rembrandts, all now in museums. Knowing these details can add great value to a paint. ’

6. If the painting has been lined, repair work may have been carried out

If the rear of the canvas tent has traces of glue around the edges, or feels thick and new, the painting may have been lined. This refers to the process of attaching an extra layer of canvas to the master surface in regulate to repair holes and tears and stabilise the paint .
‘ Lining a canvass was, and still is, a common practice for Old Master paintings, ’ says Ghosh. ‘ In the past it was often done with a clayey hand, but immediately it can be completed without damaging the paint ’ s open. ’

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell, R.S.A., R.S.W. ( 1883-1937 ), The Avenue, Auchnacraig, circa 1927. vegetable oil on sail. 25 ten 30 in ( 63.5 x 76.2 centimeter ). Sold for £83,750 on 23 November 2016 at Christie ’ sulfur in London

F.C.B. Cadell left acquit instructions on the back of his works about how to care for them in the future
‘ The scottish colourist F.C.B. Cadell ( 1883-1937 ) left clear instructions regarding how to maintain the stipulate of his works on their reverse, ’ says Alice Murray. ‘ On the rear of The Avenue, Auchnacraig [ above ] are the words “ Absorbent ground/NEVER varnish ”, because Cadell felt the chalky quality of his key surface was of farthermost importance. ’

7. Warped stretchers can be a giveaway that it has been hung in humid conditions

major cracks in the bring might indicate that it has been hung in a hot, dry place, such as above a fireplace, while heave stretchers could suggest it lived in a bathroom. ‘ Neither are advisable, ’ states Ghosh .

Richard Diebenkorn ( 1922-1993 ), Ocean Park # 108, 1978. petroleum on canvass. 78 x 62 in ( 198.1 ten 157.5 centimeter ). Sold for $ 5,723,000 on 13 November 2019 at Christie ’ s in New York. artwork : © Richard Diebenkorn Foundation

The revoke of Diebenkorn ’ s painting helpfully explains which way up it should be hang
While not venturing then army for the liberation of rwanda as to specify where they should be hung, some artists, such as Richard Diebenkorn ( 1922-1993 ), helpfully leave notes to indicate their right orientation. On the bet on of the work above Diebenkorn has written in pencil ‘ TOP ’, with an arrow steer upwards .

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8. On rare occasions, the back of a painting can even reveal another work of art

Every now and again the back of a painting can reveal something that rivals the importance of the employment of art on the front, such as a handwritten note by the artist —or even a second picture .
‘ Materials have historically been expensive, so broken artists were known to try out different compositions on the like supports, ’ Ghosh explains.

Veronica Scarpati proffers an example. ‘ In February this year Christie ’ s sold a work by Camille Pissarro ( 1830-1903 ) which had a second, signed Pissarro on the change by reversal, ’ she explains .
‘ Christie ’ mho art handlers mounted it in a custom-made digest so that both sides could be seen during the auction preview. If it had been hanging on a wall, no one would have had an inkling of what the back was hiding. ’