Somewhere between paying the deposit and hanging the canvas, a quiet question shows up: is this thing insured? A hand-painted portrait is an awkward object for an insurance company. It has almost no resale value — nobody else on earth wants a painting of your father — and a very real replacement cost, because replacing it means commissioning the work again from scratch. Most buyers never think about this until something happens: a pipe bursts, movers drop a box, a house is broken into. This guide covers how a commission is actually valued, what a standard home policy does with it, the paperwork a studio should hand you, when a paid appraisal earns its fee, and the five-minute habit after delivery that turns a future claim into a formality.
Market value and replacement value are two different numbers
Insurers work with two ideas that sound similar and behave nothing alike. Fair market value is what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller — for a family portrait, roughly nothing, because the market for portraits of other people’s families is close to zero. Replacement cost is what it would take, today, to put an equivalent object back on your wall: same size, same number of subjects, same standard of painting, same frame. For custom work that second number is the only one that means anything, and it is the one you should write on an insurance schedule.
This matters because buyers tend to under-insure in one direction and over-claim in another. A $389 canvas is not “priceless”; it is a $389 canvas plus the cost of getting a replacement painted, framed and shipped. Equally, a painting that cost $389 five years ago does not cost $389 to replace today if the studio’s prices have moved. The number in your file should be the current one, not the one on the old receipt.
Doing the arithmetic yourself
Replacement value is built from three parts: the commission price, the finishing cost, and shipping. Our canvases travel rolled in a rigid tube, so stretching and framing happen locally and belong in the number. Here is the same arithmetic on two common sizes, using current studio prices for a single subject and typical framing ranges from the framing guide:
| Canvas | Commission | Stretch | Float frame | Sensible insured value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 × 20 in | $389 | $40–$70 | $90–$220 | $520–$680 |
| 24 × 36 in | $789 | $75–$120 | $150–$320 | $1,015–$1,230 |
| 30 × 40 in | $1,090 | $90–$160 | $220–$420 | $1,400–$1,670 |
Add $60–$70 if two photographs were combined or an old print was restored, and $90 if the order was rushed. A set of four canvases made from one wedding photograph sits well past $1,500 once each is framed — that is the point where scheduling stops being paranoid and starts being sensible. The full price table, including multi-subject canvases, is on the custom portraits page; nothing is hidden behind a form.
What a standard home policy does with a painting
Most homeowners and renters policies cover personal property under a contents limit, usually 50–70% of the dwelling amount, with a deductible per claim. That general coverage does include a painting, in principle. What trips people up is the detail:
- Sub-limits. Policies routinely cap categories such as jewellery, silver, cash and business property. Fine art is sometimes treated as its own category, sometimes not mentioned at all — which is not the same as being fully covered.
- The deductible. With a $500 or $1,000 deductible, an unscheduled $389 canvas is effectively self-insured. Filing the claim can cost you more in future premiums than the painting is worth.
- Named-peril versus all-risk. A standard policy pays for specific events — fire, burst pipe, theft, windstorm. It usually does not pay for the slow things that actually damage paintings: sunlight fading, heat near a radiator, a hairline tear from a bad move. Those belong in the care guide, not in a claim.
- Definition of value. Many contents claims settle at actual cash value — replacement cost minus depreciation — unless replacement cost coverage is stated. For a painting, depreciation is a strange idea, but it is applied anyway.
None of this is a reason to distrust your insurer. It is a reason to read two pages of your own policy and to schedule anything you would genuinely pay to have repainted.
Scheduling it: what an insurer will actually ask for
A scheduled item — also called a floater, rider or valuable-articles endorsement — is listed individually on the policy with an agreed value. Scheduled property is typically covered on an all-risk basis with no deductible, which is precisely the gap a general contents policy leaves. Premiums are commonly in the range of $12–$20 per $1,000 of value per year, so a $700 painting costs somewhere near a coffee a month. Ask your insurer for their current rate rather than assuming.
To add one, expect to supply five things:
- A description: original oil on canvas, number of subjects, artist, year, dimensions unframed and framed.
- The invoice or quote showing what the work cost.
- Photographs: the full painting, the signature, the back of the canvas and stretcher bars, and the piece hanging in place.
- The certificate of authenticity, with its number.
- The replacement value you are asking for — and, above roughly $1,000–$2,500 per item depending on the insurer, a professional appraisal.
The paperwork your studio should give you
Every painting leaving our studio is signed, varnished with an archival gloss, and accompanied by a numbered certificate of authenticity and an invoice listing the finished dimensions. Those three items are not decoration; they are the evidence an insurer or an estate lawyer will ask for years later. Keep them together, in a folder you can find without the painting in front of you. If a studio cannot tell you the finished dimensions of what it sold you, that is a warning about how the rest of the paperwork is kept.
The riskiest week is the one in transit
Between the studio and your wall, the painting is at its most vulnerable, and this is the one stage where insurance is already handled: shipments travel tracked and insured. What is not automatic is evidence. Photograph the tube before you open it, photograph the painting the moment it is unrolled, and report any damage within seven days — the process is set out in the shipping guide. A crease that looks minor on day one can become a visible line after a month on a stretcher, so photograph everything and say something early.
When a professional appraisal is worth paying for
For a painting you commissioned last year, the invoice usually is the appraisal: it documents exactly what the object cost to make. A paid appraisal earns its fee in four situations: the value crosses your insurer’s threshold for scheduling; the painting is part of an estate or an inheritance being divided; it is being donated or sold; or the artist has since become collectible. Look for an appraiser credentialed by one of the recognised bodies — the Appraisers Association of America, the American Society of Appraisers, or the International Society of Appraisers — and say the purpose out loud, because replacement cost for insurance and fair market value for tax are different assignments. A single-item letter commonly runs $150–$400; for a $400 canvas that is absurd, and for a $2,690 canvas it is cheap.
One honest note on “value”: a hand-painted copy of a museum picture has reproduction value, not investment value, and a commissioned family portrait will never appreciate the way a signed original by a known artist might. Insure it as what it is — an object you would pay to have made again — and you will never be disappointed by a claim. The longevity guide explains why the object itself will very likely outlast the policy.
A five-minute habit the week the painting arrives
- Photograph the front in daylight, square on, no flash.
- Photograph the back: stretcher bars, any label, the signature if it is there.
- Photograph the certificate and write its number in your phone notes.
- Save the invoice PDF to a cloud folder named after that number.
- Measure the framed piece and record width, height and depth.
- Take one photo of it hanging, with something in frame for scale.
Five minutes now saves an afternoon of reconstruction later, and it makes the difference between an adjuster accepting a value and an adjuster asking you to prove one.
When to update the file
Four events make the numbers stale: reframing (the value goes up), moving house (the policy and sometimes the coverage territory change), giving the painting away (ownership, and therefore insurable interest, moves with it), and any change in the studio’s prices. A two-line email to your insurer once a year is enough, and it is the least romantic possible way to look after an heirloom — which is exactly why it works.
The short version
- Insure replacement cost, not sentiment: commission price plus framing plus shipping.
- The invoice and the numbered certificate are your appraisal for a recent commission.
- Standard contents cover usually pays, but deductibles and sub-limits make small paintings effectively self-insured.
- Scheduling costs roughly $12–$20 per $1,000 of value per year and typically removes the deductible.
- Damage in transit: photograph everything, report within seven days.
- Update the number after reframing, moving, gifting or a price change.
If you are still deciding on size and budget, send your photographs for a fixed quote — the invoice that comes back is also the document your insurer will want.