Provenance research guide · checklist
Artwork identity and title-collision checklist
Avoid merging different artworks that share a translated title, subject, maker, or approximate dimensions.
Compare independent identity features
Test dimensions with orientation and tolerances, medium and support, inscriptions, labels, framing evidence, catalogue numbers, photographs, and distinctive condition details. Explain every mismatch rather than averaging it away.
Test dimensions with orientation and tolerances, medium and support, inscriptions, labels, framing evidence, catalogue numbers, photographs, and distinctive condition details. Explain every mismatch rather than averaging it away. Use a source ledger and claim identifiers so another researcher can reproduce the decision, challenge an assumption, and distinguish evidence from interpretation.
Trace title history
Record each title in its original language and source context. Generic titles such as Landscape, Composition, or Still Life can describe many works; translations and catalogue conventions can create false equivalence.
Record each title in its original language and source context. Generic titles such as Landscape, Composition, or Still Life can describe many works; translations and catalogue conventions can create false equivalence. Use a source ledger and claim identifiers so another researcher can reproduce the decision, challenge an assumption, and distinguish evidence from interpretation.
Use negative evidence carefully
A missing identifier or image may weaken a match but does not automatically disprove it. A contradictory dimension, support, signature location, or simultaneous documented location can be stronger disconfirming evidence.
A missing identifier or image may weaken a match but does not automatically disprove it. A contradictory dimension, support, signature location, or simultaneous documented location can be stronger disconfirming evidence. Use a source ledger and claim identifiers so another researcher can reproduce the decision, challenge an assumption, and distinguish evidence from interpretation.
Record the boundary of the evidence
End the research record by separating documented facts, supported interpretations, unresolved questions, and disconfirmed leads. A gap is not proof of wrongdoing, and a repeated statement is not independent corroboration when every repetition traces back to the same source.
Retain the source URL or call number, access date, quoted passage, page or image reference, and a file hash when a stable local copy is permitted. This makes the conclusion reproducible and makes later correction possible without rewriting the history of the research.