Our method

During a weekly meeting, the "sorting", all the paintings that have been received for appraisal are examined by the experts, the researchers and various specialists. We are interested in each of the works entrusted to us, regardless of their condition and history. They are all observed and analysed according to the intuitions of each of us. While the colours speak to one, the drawing attracts the eye of another, the technique strikes a third. It is this crisscrossing of viewpoints that allows for the best analysis. Art history being a human science, we listen to everyone’s impressions and opinions.

In order to appreciate all the subtlety and to understand the history of each of the works, a researcher gathers all the bibliographic and iconographic elements relating to the paintings presented. To do this, we consult the office's private documentation, which is extremely extensive, containing fifteen thousand books, photographs, and thousands of sales catalogues and periodicals. The exceptional collection of more than 500,000 records, currently being digitized, continues to grow daily and constitutes one of our most precious assets. On the lookout for the smallest trace, the slightest proof, we conduct true investigations, the result of which will be the final attribution.

We systematically invite prestigious consultants, researchers or former curators to participate in this weekly meeting in order to enrich our vision of the work and to compare opinions. After this first collegial analysis, the investigation continues: our firm often calls upon international specialists of each school, each period, each artist. Their opinion constantly enriches our knowledge of the works and helps us to perfect our expertise in Old Master Paintings and refine our estimate. This relationship of trust and mutual exchange, strengthened for decades, gives us access to great specialists and their wealth of knowledge.

In a second step, when necessary, the scientific analysis, physical or chemical, is used to confirm or contradict the intuition of researchers and experts. We do not hesitate to use X-ray or spectrograph on a painting for the needs of attribution and valuation. The case of The Virgin and Child Enthroned by the Master of Vissy-Brod is a good example of this, since our decision to have it X-rayed to confirm our intuition revealed the important black repaint added in the 18th or 19th century around the figures. This overpainting obscured an important and spectacular architectural feature in the original composition, now perfectly brought to light by the restorers at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. These technical analyses and the comparisons between similar works organized by our firm are detailed in the auction catalogue.

The drafting of the sale catalogue is a key element of the auction. This catalogue, distributed in digital and/or printed version, includes the whole of our work as experts. The painting is then described either as being by the artist's hand, or attributed to the artist, artist's entourage, follower of the artist, or in the artist's style. These precise denominations are our responsibility and legally binding. The catalogue develops the artist's biography, describes the context of the work's production, the personality of the person who commissioned it or of the successive collectors, proposes comparisons with other paintings, provides information on possible preparatory drawings and presents, if necessary, the results of scientific analyses. Illustrated with high-definition photographs, it offers buyers a maximum of information.

For sales of important works, the catalogue is translated into English in order to reach an even broader audience.

Once the painting's description has been drawn up and the catalogue finalized, we send the information to our clients and contacts, in France and abroad, depending on the nature of the work. Buyers and collectors rely on the advice of our experts who are familiar with their tastes and interests. It is due to this trust that paintings are sold for several million euros without having been viewed in person, such as the Portrait de philosophe by Jusepe de Ribera sold on 16 June 2020 by the Daguerre auction house in Paris, without either the buyer or the under bidder having examined it in person.

Our work as experts does not stop with the distribution of the catalogue. We accompany the painting and the auctioneer through to the auction. Firstly, we respond to all requests for condition reports from our clients or from the auction house with the seriousness and precision for which we are known. We also provide additional photos whenever necessary.

Our experts are present at the public exhibitions that precede the sale in order to best provide additional information to potential bidders. They also participate in the sale to announce and comment on the works. After the sale, we can direct the buyers when asked towards trusted restorers, framers, shippers and insurers.