Condition report (artwork)
A document that describes and photographs an artwork's condition at a given moment, before and after each transport or loan, and serves as evidence to establish whether damage occurred during the insured period.
An old artwork almost always shows alterations: cracks, lifting paint, old restorations, frame wear. If damage is found when it arrives at an exhibition, one must know whether it is new or existed at departure. The condition report answers that question: a conservator or registrar describes the work in detail, with diagrams and photographs, at departure, arrival, deinstallation and return, and each party signs it. Loan agreements and nail-to-nail policies make it a condition of cover, or at least the main means of proof. In a claim, comparing reports defines the damage, its probable cause and the phase of transport in which it occurred, which determines the insurer concerned and any recovery against the specialist shipper. A sloppy report turns a simple claim into a dispute over prior condition.
For a canvas lent in 2025 by a museum in Lyon to an exhibition in Madrid, four condition reports are signed, at deinstallation, on arrival, at dismantling and on return; a paint flake noted only on the third places the damage during the exhibition and directs the claim to the borrower's policy.
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