Where to get a painting authenticated in the UK

Updated 22 August 2026 · 12 min read

There is no single body in the UK that authenticates paintings. What exists is a ladder: a free auction house estimate tells you whether anything is there at all, an accredited conservator can read the object in the hand, a laboratory can date the materials, and for a significant artist only the estate or catalogue raisonné committee produces an opinion the market fully accepts. Start at the cheap end.

These are not endorsements. Cherished Canvas has no relationship with any organisation on this page, is paid nothing by any of them, and earns nothing if you contact them. They are listed because they are the routes that exist. Confirm scope, turnaround and fees directly — this is a starting point for your own enquiries, not advice about who to instruct.

Start here: free auction house estimates

The most under-used resource in the UK. Every major auction house will look at photographs for nothing, because finding saleable property is their business. You are not obliged to sell, and a specialist who thinks a picture is worth a second look will say so.

Understand what you are getting: a preliminary view on whether the work suits their sales, not a formal appraisal or an authentication. A polite non-answer usually means “not for us” rather than “worthless”, and regional houses are frequently better than the London names on regional artists.

Sotheby’sLondon and internationalFree online estimate from submitted photographs. Specialists only respond on works they judge suitable for their sales, so silence is itself information.
Christie’sLondon and internationalComplimentary online auction estimate from photographs. As with Sotheby’s, a preliminary saleability view rather than a formal appraisal.
BonhamsLondon, Edinburgh and regionalFree auction estimate from submitted photographs, plus regular picture valuation events and home visits for larger items.
Lyon & TurnbullEdinburgh, Glasgow and LondonComplimentary valuations with no obligation to sell, online or at valuation days. Particularly strong on Scottish art.
DreweattsNewbury and Pall Mall, LondonFree online auction valuations, virtual valuations, home visits and valuation days. Twenty-two specialist departments including fine art.
Woolley & WallisSalisburyAuctioneers since 1884, with free monthly valuation events. The paintings department runs four sales a year covering the fifteenth to twenty-first centuries.
CheffinsCambridgeComplimentary valuations every Tuesday at the saleroom, covering paintings alongside the other fine art departments.
SwordersStansted Mountfitchet, EssexComplimentary auction estimate via an online form, across all the fine and decorative art categories.

Beyond these, most towns have a local saleroom running free valuation days. For a painting by a locally-known artist, the nearest saleroom is often better informed than anyone in London.

Accredited conservators and restorers

A conservator is the right call when the question is about the object rather than the name: is this paint or a print, has it been overpainted, is that signature original to the surface, what is the actual condition under the varnish. They examine the thing itself, which no amount of photography replaces.

Accreditation matters here. “Restorer” is not a protected title in the UK, and bad restoration destroys more value than dirt ever does. Both registers below are free to search and list only assessed practitioners.

Icon — the Institute of ConservationUK-wide registerThe Conservation Register: a free, publicly searchable directory of Icon-Accredited conservators, who have passed a peer-reviewed assessment. The standard place to start for finding someone qualified near you.
BAPCR — British Association of Paintings Conservator-RestorersUK-wide registerFounded 1943, the longest-established body dedicated specifically to paintings conservation in the UK. Its “Find a Restorer” directory is paintings-specific in a way the general registers are not.
Fine Art Restoration CompanyCarlisle, with UK-wide collectionCommercial studio offering condition assessment, restoration and pigment analysis, plus a substantial free library of guides on valuing and assessing paintings.

Scientific laboratories

Laboratory analysis answers one question extremely well: is this consistent with having been made when it claims to have been made. A pigment that had not been invented yet ends the discussion immediately.

What it cannot usually do is confirm a hand. Only a small number of artists have well-documented material signatures, and a competent forger can use period-correct materials. Science reliably disproves; it rarely proves. It is also the expensive end of the ladder, so it makes sense only when the sums justify it.

ArtDiscoveryLaboratories in London and New YorkScientific analysis — SEM-EDX, Raman spectroscopy, FTIR and radiocarbon dating — combined with provenance research and connoisseurship. Operating since 2009, with one of the largest private pigment reference databases.
Hephaestus AnalyticalLondonMultimodal authentication combining chemical analysis and carbon dating with provenance research and AI comparison. Acquired ArtDiscovery, so the two now sit under one roof.

Provenance and stolen-art checks

If your research starts pointing somewhere valuable, check the work against the stolen-art databases before committing money. Buying something that turns out to be stolen or looted leaves you with an object you cannot lawfully sell.

The Art Loss RegisterLondon, established 1990The world’s largest private database of stolen, looted and missing art — over 700,000 items. Runs paid searches per item or by subscription, and issues certificates confirming a search was made. Free to law enforcement.

Vetted dealers and trade associations

A specialist dealer who handles a particular period or school every week often recognises a hand instantly. Their opinion is not formal authentication and they have a commercial interest, but as a fast informed steer it is valuable — and association membership means someone has vetted them.

BADA — British Antique Dealers’ AssociationUK-wide, founded 1918Around 350 vetted member dealers, elected on experience and integrity and reconfirmed annually. Members will often give an informal view on something in their specialism.
LAPADA — The Association of Art & Antique DealersUK-wide, founded 1974The largest UK trade association, with 550+ accredited dealers across the full spectrum of art and antiques. Searchable by specialism and location.

Free research resources

Before paying anyone, exhaust the free sources. A surprising number of paintings are identified from an exhibition label and an afternoon in these databases.

Art UKFree, onlineOver a million artworks by more than 75,000 artists in UK public collections. The best free starting point for identifying a British or British-based artist and comparing signed works by the same hand.
The National Archives — art and artists research guideFree, onlinePoints you to which archives hold artist records, exhibition catalogues and society membership lists — the paper trail that actually identifies minor artists.
Government Art CollectionFree, onlineOver 14,000 works including around 2,500 oil paintings. Another comparison set for British artists, and searchable by artist.

The method for working through them is in how to research an artist's signature.

Artist estates and catalogue raisonné committees

For any artist of real consequence, one body's opinion is the one the market accepts: the estate, the foundation, or the committee compiling the catalogue raisonné. If you believe you have a work by a named twentieth-century artist, find out whether such a body exists before spending money anywhere else — an authentication from anyone else may not move the price.

Be aware that some committees have stopped issuing opinions entirely, and others have long waiting lists and strict submission requirements. This is also where expectations most often meet reality, which is worth knowing before you become attached to an attribution.

Choosing where to start

“Is this a print?” — an accredited conservator, or your own eyes first using how to tell if a painting is a print or an original.
“Who painted this?” — free databases, then a free auction house estimate, then a specialist dealer.
“How old is it?” — a conservator for the construction and materials as visible; a laboratory if it genuinely matters.
“What is it worth?” — auction houses, free. For insurance or probate you need a formal written valuation, which is a paid service.
“Is the frame the valuable part?” — a frame conservator or specialist dealer; start with what makes an ornate frame valuable.

A note on cost and proportion

Full scientific authentication can cost more than most marketplace paintings are worth, and it is entirely rational to decide a picture is not worth investigating. The ladder exists so you can stop at whatever rung answers your question. For the great majority of paintings bought for under a few hundred pounds, a free auction estimate and an hour with the free databases is the whole sensible process.

And the standing caveat that applies to everything we publish: our own scores are automated opinions generated from a listing photograph and a seller's description. They are a way of deciding what deserves a closer look. They are not valuations, not authentications, and no substitute for any of the people above.

Keep reading

How to tell if a painting is a print or an originalA print reproduces an image mechanically; an original was made by hand, once. You can usually tell them apart in under a minute with a phone camera and a raking light — here is exactly what to look for, and where the modern fakes catch people out.
What makes an ornate frame valuableGilt frames range from a few pounds of moulded plaster to period objects worth more than the painting inside them. The difference comes down to how the ornament was made, how it was gilded, and whether anyone has painted over it since.
How to research an artist’s signatureMost signatures on unattributed paintings are legible once you light them properly — the hard part is what comes next. A practical method for reading, transcribing and checking a signature, and an honest account of what one actually proves.