THE LANGUAGE OF LOOKING
The art-market glossary.
Clear definitions to read a catalogue, understand an attribution and approach an auction with the right reference points.
61 definitions
Absentee bid
A written instruction given to the auction house to bid on behalf of an absent buyer up to a fixed maximum.
After-sale
The period following a sale during which unsold lots may be acquired privately, usually at the reserve price.
Art advisor
An independent professional guiding a collector in building, managing and developing their collection.
Art fair
An event gathering a selected group of galleries to present and sell works to an international audience over a few days.
Attribution
The designation of the presumed author of a work, based on stylistic, technical and documentary analysis. Levels of attribution follow a codified hierarchy.
Auction session
A single public auction session. A given sale may comprise several vacations, often grouped by theme or day.
Auctioneer
A ministerial officer or qualified professional authorised to conduct public auctions. A regulated profession in France.
Biennial
A major artistic event held every two years, sometimes commercial, sometimes curatorial in scope.
Bought-in
A lot that fails to sell because the reserve price was not reached. Also referred to as unsold or BI.
Broker
An intermediary connecting a seller and a buyer without holding the works themselves, paid by commission.
Bronze
A sculpture cast from an alloy of copper, tin and other metals. Produced in limited numbers, identified by foundry stamps and numbering.
Buyer's premium
A commission added to the hammer price and paid by the buyer to the auction house, typically expressed as a tiered percentage.
Catalogue raisonné
A comprehensive scholarly inventory of an artist's body of work, compiled by a recognised authority and authoritative on questions of attribution.
Catalogued sale
A sale accompanied by a fully edited catalogue with detailed entries and illustrations, as opposed to a regular sale.
Certificate of authenticity
A document signed by an expert, the artist or their heirs, guaranteeing the authenticity of a work.
Circle of
A work attributed to an anonymous artist close to the master, contemporary and trained in his direct influence.
Condition report
A document precisely describing the material condition of a work, prepared ahead of a transport, loan or sale.
Cultural goods passport
A European document authorising the movement of a cultural good above a certain value between member states.
Dealer
A professional buying and selling works on their own account, through a gallery or privately, and advising collectors and institutions.
Drawing
A work executed in graphite, pen, wash, sanguine or black chalk, on paper or parchment. A central category of the Old Master market.
Due diligence
Preliminary checks carried out before acquiring a work: provenance, legal compliance, and absence of restitution claims.
Edition
The full run of impressions pulled from a single matrix, typically numbered and signed, with a fixed total set in advance.
Estimate
An indicative low–high price range provided by the auction house to guide bidders ahead of the sale.
Expert
A recognised specialist in a given field, called upon to authenticate, attribute or value works. Often associated with an auction house.
Expertise
The reasoned opinion of a recognised specialist on the attribution, dating and condition of a work, often formalised by a certificate.
Export licence
An administrative authorisation required to export a cultural good outside the territory above certain age and value thresholds.
Follower of
A work executed in a master's style by an anonymous artist who imitates him, not necessarily a contemporary.
Foundation
A private not-for-profit body dedicated to the preservation, study or display of an artistic ensemble, often arising from a private collection.
Framing
The presentation of a work in a frame chosen for its stylistic and historical coherence, often decisive for the reading and value of the piece.
Gouache
An opaque water-based paint, more covering than watercolour, valued for studies, views and decorative projects.
Guarantee
A financial commitment by the auction house or a third party guaranteeing the seller a minimum price, regardless of the sale outcome.
Hammer price
The price at which a work is awarded to the highest bidder, excluding fees. It is announced by the auctioneer with the fall of the hammer.
Hang
The way works are arranged in an exhibition space. By extension, the exhibition itself.
Impression
An individual impression pulled from a print matrix. Its quality depends on the state of the matrix at the time of printing.
Irrevocable bid
A contractual commitment by a third party to place a minimum bid on a lot, guaranteeing its sale. Must be disclosed in the catalogue.
Loan
The extended placement of a work with an institution without transfer of ownership. A common practice between collectors and museums.
Loan (exhibition)
The temporary lending of a work for an exhibition, governed by a contract setting out insurance and transport conditions.
Lot
A single work or grouping of works offered for sale under its own number.
Market value
The market value of an artist or work, tracked through public auction results and secondary-market activity.
Modello
A small, finely executed painting presented to a patron as the final proposal for a larger work.
Multiple
A work conceived to exist in several identical examples, usually editioned under the artist's supervision.
Museum
A permanent, not-for-profit institution that acquires, preserves, studies and displays works for the public good.
National treasure
A status granted in France to a work whose export is temporarily blocked while a public institution considers its acquisition.
Oil on canvas
A painting technique combining pigments and an oil binder on a stretched canvas support, dominant since the 16th century.
Oil on panel
Oil painting executed on a wooden support, common among Old Masters, particularly Flemish and Italian.
Online bidding
Participation in a sale via a dedicated online platform, either live or through prior absentee bids.
Pastel
A work executed with pigmented sticks on paper, a technique particularly refined in 18th-century France.
Preventive conservation
All measures intended to slow the deterioration of a work: control of humidity, light, temperature and handling.
A work produced by printing from an engraved matrix: etching, engraving, lithograph, woodcut, and the like.
Provenance
The documented chain of successive owners of a work, from the artist's studio to the present sale. A decisive factor for value and authenticity.
Relining
Reinforcement of a fragile old canvas by adhering a second canvas to its reverse. A restoration technique now used sparingly.
Resale right
A copyright entitling an artist or their heirs to a percentage of the public resale price of an original work.
Reserve price
A confidential minimum price agreed between the seller and the auction house, below which the work cannot be sold.
Restoration
Intervention on a work aimed at stabilising its condition and restoring its legibility, while respecting its material and historical integrity.
Ricordo
A small replica made by the artist as a record of a composition delivered to a patron.
Right of pre-emption
A right specific to the French market allowing the State to step into the buyer's place at the hammer price, on behalf of public collections.
Sketch
A rapid first laying-out of a composition, often painted, establishing the main masses and values.
Studio of
A work produced in a master's studio under his direction, without certainty that he himself executed it.
Study
A preparatory work, painted or drawn, executed from life or in preparation for a more finished composition.
Varnish
A transparent layer applied to a painting to protect the paint surface and enliven its tones. It yellows over time and can be renewed.
Watercolour
A water-based painting using transparent pigments on paper, particularly developed in the 18th and 19th centuries.