Thomas Gainsborough’s work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from $5 USD to $10,515,792 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork. Since 1998 the record price for this artist at auction is $10,515,792 USD for Portrait of Mrs.

Henry Huntington bought the paintings in the 1920’s. “The Blue Boy” was bought for a record breaking price at the time, and while the price is debated, it was probably $640,000. Today that would be over $8.5 million.

One good indicator of how to tell if a paint is valuable is to figure out who owned the painting beforehand. If someone who was high up or well-known in the art community owned the painting, then there might have been a reason for it. They knew that it was worth more.

The majority of reproductions of famous paintings have little value. Some reproductions of paintings do have commercial value, particularly if they were published as limited editions. Supply and demand may mean that they increase in value.

Antique picture frames are highly valued collectibles in Europe, where they are often displayed, without canvases, as art in their own right. Even today, savvy frame collectors are rare, and old frames are often ignored. …

Antique frames, with their intricate designs, evoke time past when craftsmanship was an art unto itself. Like it affects fine wines, the passage of time adds character to and increases the value of antique frames. In some cases, an antique frame can be worth more than the artwork it surrounds.

Before you throw away perfectly good canvases, try out these options:

1. COMPLETELY PAINT OVER THEM. The most obvious option is to give that canvas new life.
2. GIVE THEM A MODERN UPDATE. This is one of the easiest and most fun ways to keep an old painting from going to waste.
3. GIVE THEM A FUNNY UPDATE.
4. SELL THEM.
5. DONATE THEM.

By far the fastest way to update your artwork – just paint the frame. Sometimes an old frame doesn’t work for you anymore, but you still love the size or details. Just pop the art out and give it a couple passes with your favorite spray paint. Done!

How to Sell Art You Already Own

1. Resale dealers. You can find resale art dealers either on specialised art websites or in consignment shops.
2. Auction houses.
3. Online – eBay.

Even high quality custom picture frames can break or wear down over time, especially if they’re very, very old. If you have art in frames that have seen better days, you may have considered having it reframed. The good news is that yes, you can have fine art reframed safely.

Quite frequently, we’re asked: should I frame my canvas? The short answer is this: if the canvas is stretched and you’re happy with how the sides of it look, you can display unframed. A painting or print on canvas, unlike works on paper, has a structure and shape all its own. I certainly don’t frame all of my canvases.

If it’s a photograph or print and it’s “stuck” to the glass, depending on the size you can place it in the freezer for an hour and then gently pull it away from the glass. Take care to wear gloves in case the glass breaks!

A floater frame is a cost-effective style of molding to create an elegantly modern look to your artwork. Most frame moldings are designed for 3/4″-deep canvases (in frame lingo, this is called a 3/4″ rabbet.) A gallery-depth canvas is at least 1-1/2″ deep (sometimes 2″ or 2-1/2″ deep.)

There is no need to frame an oil painting under glass if it’s painted on canvas, panel, or board. Glass is used in framing to protect the artwork from moisture and harmful UV rays which can fade the colors. The final varnish applied to oil paintings is often considered sufficient protection.

Canvas should be stretched and hung in a frame appropriate to an oil painting. Oil paintings are never framed under glass, they outgass solvents which accumulate on the inside of the glass. For an inkjet print, that means coating.

Do Oil Paintings Need to Breath? Yes, they absolutely do. Oil paintings aren’t going to dry without constant air contact. Oil dries, or rather solidifies, by oxidation: the process of atoms removing electrons from each other.

Breathing moisture out is a must. Unless you have your panting in an environmentally controlled room your painting will need to ‘breathe out’ moisture.

Store your paintings in a dry room, wrapped in tissue paper. Use tissue paper, breathable sheets, or foam to protect your oil paintings while you store them. Avoid using material like bubble wrap because it can trap moisture in. Make sure that the painting has air circulation.