Condition Reports and What They Leave Out

What a report is

A condition report is a written description of the physical state of a lot, provided on request. It is not a guarantee, and houses are careful to say so. It reflects the state of the object at the time it was examined and the opinion of whoever examined it.

That framing matters. The report is evidence of what someone saw, not a warranty of what is there.

Reading the conventional language

The vocabulary is understated by convention. 'Some restoration' can describe anything from a few retouched losses to a picture in which a substantial area is modern paint. 'Craquelure consistent with age' is normal; 'cupping' or 'flaking' is not. 'Relined' means the original canvas has been mounted onto a new support, a routine intervention that nonetheless flattens impasto permanently.

For panels, 'cradled' means a lattice was fixed to the reverse to control warping, a practice now largely abandoned because it often caused the splitting it was meant to prevent.

What ultraviolet shows

Under ultraviolet light, older varnish fluoresces and later retouching appears dark. A few minutes with a UV torch will show the distribution of restoration more directly than several paragraphs of prose, which is why viewing in person still matters and why the best-lit online photography is not a substitute.

It is not conclusive: a recently cleaned and revarnished picture can suppress the effect, which is itself worth noticing.

Why condition sometimes outweighs attribution

At the top of the market, condition can matter more than the last rung of attribution. A securely attributed picture that is substantially repainted may sell for less than a well-preserved workshop version, because what the buyer is acquiring in the first case is largely somebody else's paint.

This is rarely stated plainly in catalogues, and it is one of the reasons quality and attribution diverge in price more often than an outsider would guess.