Start with the signature
Look in the lower corners first, then along the edges — signatures hide in unexpected places. Note the exact spelling, any date, and whether it is painted into the work or added on top.
Illegible or monogram signatures are common. Record the letters as best you can; they are the key you will search against.
Turn it over — the back tells the story
The reverse is often more informative than the front. Gallery and framer labels, exhibition stickers, auction lot numbers, customs stamps and handwritten inscriptions can name the artist, title, date and owners.
The stretcher and canvas themselves matter: keyed wooden stretchers, tack versus staple fixing, and the weave all help date a work.
- Photograph every label, stamp and inscription before anything is reframed.
- Note inventory or lot numbers — they can be traced.
- Do not remove old labels; they are part of the provenance.
Read the style and subject
Technique, palette and subject place a work in time. Loose, light-filled brushwork suggests Impressionism; fractured planes suggest Cubism; theatrical light and shadow suggest the Baroque.
Placing the movement narrows the field of possible artists and eras, even before a name is confirmed.
Materials and age
Support and construction hint at period: canvas versus wood panel versus board; hand-cut versus machine-made nails; the type of stretcher.
A fine web of surface cracks (craquelure) can indicate age — but it can also be faked, so read it alongside everything else rather than on its own.
Prints in disguise
Before going further, confirm you are looking at a painting at all. Under a 10× loupe, a printed reproduction shows a regular dot pattern; a painting shows continuous brushwork and texture.
Many family “paintings” turn out to be decorative prints — worth knowing before investing effort in attribution.
Tools, and when to call an expert
A reverse-image search, signature dictionaries, artist databases and catalogues raisonnés will take you a long way, and AI image analysis can suggest a style or a likely hand as a starting point.
For a confident attribution — the difference between “in the manner of” and “by” — you need expert connoisseurship. A documented record gathers captures, an AI-assisted reading and the evidence in one place, offered as an informed opinion rather than a guarantee.