Object
Painting
The surface as the object
Painting is the category where condition matters most and where the market is most honest about it: a canvas is either sound, lined, or failing, and the price knows which.
History
Before 1800 painting is commissioned: portraits, religious subjects and history, made to a patron's brief.
After 1800 it becomes a market object, and the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are where condition, provenance and signature matter most.
What to look for
Original canvas and stretcher rather than a lining, craquelure that follows the paint rather than the frame, and a signature that matches the period.
In this group
The searches this object is worth looking at. Each opens the collection for it.