How to verify an artist's authenticity before buying art internationally
No single database confirms that a living artist and their work are genuine. A buyer verifies this the way any remote, high-value purchase is verified: by checking a traceable identity, a documented body of work, and paperwork that can be independently confirmed against a public record — not by running one search and treating it as proof.
What a stolen-art database checks — and what it doesn't
The first instinct many international buyers have is to run a title search before wiring money abroad. That instinct is sound, but it answers a narrower question than most buyers expect. The Art Loss Register, the largest private database of its kind, holds more than 700,000 records of lost, stolen, and looted art, antiques, and collectibles, and runs more than 400,000 checks a year for auction houses, dealers, museums, banks, and private collectors. A search tells a buyer whether a specific work has been reported stolen or is subject to a registered ownership dispute — it does not tell them whether the artist is real, or whether the work is what the seller says it is.
In the United States, the FBI's National Stolen Art File works the same way: it is publicly searchable, but it only covers cultural property valued above $2,000 and currently lists just over 5,000 items. Interpol maintains a larger database of more than 52,000 stolen cultural objects worldwide. All three are useful for one specific question — has this object been reported missing or stolen — and none of them confirm that a contemporary, living artist and their current body of work are genuine. For a newly made painting bought directly from a working studio, that question almost never arises, because the work has no prior ownership history to check.
Why there is no single verification body for a living artist
Buyers sometimes look for an equivalent of a stolen-art registry for authenticity itself — a body that could confirm "yes, this artist and this painting are real." For historical works with disputed attribution, that role has traditionally been filled by scholarly authentication research services. It is worth knowing that this field has been shrinking rather than growing: the International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR), a US nonprofit that had offered authentication research since 1969, announced in September 2024 that it would wind down operations in 2025.
Even when such services existed, their work centered on disputed attribution of historical works — whether a painting is genuinely by a deceased master — not on confirming that a living, working artist exists and produced a specific piece. For a contemporary artist selling current work, there is no equivalent institution to consult. Verification instead rests on the buyer's own direct checks: a traceable public presence built up over time, documentation the seller is willing to produce, and the ability to see the actual piece and the person making it in real time.
The paperwork a legitimate seller should be able to produce
The art market's own anti-money-laundering guidelines, published by the Responsible Art Market (RAM) initiative, are written for galleries and dealers rather than individual buyers, but the underlying logic transfers directly to what a buyer should expect to see. RAM's due-diligence framework asks sellers to establish identity through official, checkable documents — for an individual, government identification and independent proof of address; for a registered business, formation documents naming its directors. A seller unwilling or unable to produce any equivalent of this — a real name, a real address, a way to confirm the business exists — is the same category of red flag RAM asks the art trade itself to watch for.
Beyond identity, the documents that should travel with the actual sale are a signed certificate of authenticity naming the work, the artist, and the date; an internal inventory or archive number unique to that piece; and an invoice or receipt issued by a real, named entity. None of these documents alone proves authenticity — a certificate of authenticity is, by design, only as reliable as the person who signs it — but a seller who cannot produce any of them, or who is vague about who signs them, has failed the first and easiest test.
The checks that matter more than any registry
Because no database certifies a living artist, the checks that actually reduce risk are direct ones. A real-time video call showing the specific painting, in the studio, with the artist or a named representative present, is harder to fabricate convincingly than a set of edited photographs. A digital presence — a website, social accounts, published work — that is consistent and has existed for a meaningful stretch of time carries more weight than one created days before contact. Additional detail photographs of the actual surface, texture, or signature, taken on request rather than pulled from a stock set, are a low-cost, high-signal ask that a legitimate studio can fulfil quickly and a fabricated listing usually cannot.
It is also worth cross-referencing the specific piece's inventory number, dimensions, and price against the seller's own published catalog for that work, rather than relying only on what appears in a single message or listing. A discrepancy between what a seller states privately and what is published on their own site is a more reliable signal than the absence of a formal certificate.
Red flags worth pausing on
RAM's guidelines, again written for the trade but useful to any buyer, single out a client or counterparty who is evasive about their own identity, who supplies documentation that looks manufactured, or who insists on unusual payment arrangements — such as large cash payments or funds routed through a third party unconnected to the sale — as reasons to slow down. The same logic runs in the seller's direction: a seller who avoids a video call, cannot explain basic details of their own process, or pushes for payment through an unusual or untraceable channel merits the same caution.
An FBI Art Crime Team special agent, discussing collector due diligence, put the simplest version of this plainly: a painting priced far below what comparable work should cost is a signal to slow down, not a bargain to move on quickly — in his words, it is "just a matter of doing your due diligence and using common sense." Urgency and a price that seems disconnected from the seller's own body of work are, together, the combination worth the most suspicion.
From the studio
From the studio
Every piece that leaves this studio is sold directly, with no gallery or agent between the buyer and us, which means the burden of proof is genuinely ours to carry, not outsourced to a third party's name. What we can offer a buyer who cannot get on a plane to Brasília is what we would ask for ourselves: on request, through the same WhatsApp channel, additional detail photographs and video of the specific piece, and a live call arranged so the actual painting is in the frame, not a photograph of it; a signed certificate of authenticity that carries the internal Archive ID and a QR code pointing back to that work's own page on this site, so the record does not depend on the paper alone; and, for anyone who happens to be in Brasília, part of the collection is on view in person by appointment. None of that replaces a buyer's own judgment — it exists so that judgment has something real to check itself against before a payment crosses a border.
Frequently asked
Can the Art Loss Register or a similar database confirm that an artist is real?
No. The Art Loss Register and the FBI's National Stolen Art File check whether a specific object has been reported stolen or is subject to a registered ownership dispute. They say nothing about whether a living artist exists, is who they claim to be, or actually made a given piece. Those are two separate questions, and buyers sometimes conflate them.
Is a certificate of authenticity enough proof on its own?
Not by itself. A certificate is a signed statement by the seller about the work — its title, date, materials, and dimensions — and its value depends entirely on who signs it and whether that signature can be checked against something else, such as an inventory number that matches the seller's own published catalog. It documents a claim; it does not independently verify it.
What documents should a legitimate seller be able to provide before an international purchase?
At minimum: a real, checkable name and business identity; a signed certificate of authenticity describing the specific work; an internal inventory or archive number unique to that piece; and an invoice or receipt from a named, findable entity. A seller who cannot produce any of these, or is vague about who stands behind them, has not passed the first and simplest test.
Should a buyer expect to do a video call before paying for art from another country?
It is a reasonable and increasingly normal request, not an imposition. A live call showing the specific piece, in the studio, with the artist or a named representative present, is far harder to fabricate convincingly than a curated set of photographs. A legitimate seller with nothing to hide should be able to arrange one within a day or two, without resistance, excuses, or repeated delay.
Why doesn't a body like IFAR exist to authenticate a living artist's work?
Authentication research bodies such as IFAR historically focused on resolving disputed attribution in historical works — whether a painting is genuinely by a deceased master — not on verifying a working contemporary artist's current output. IFAR itself announced in September 2024 that it would wind down operations in 2025, which narrows an already small field further. For a living artist, verification rests on direct checks rather than a formal authentication body.
What is the single biggest red flag when buying art online from abroad?
A combination of urgency and a price disconnected from the seller's own body of work. An FBI Art Crime Team agent has described the underlying test as simple common sense: a painting priced far below what comparable work should cost is a reason to slow down and ask more questions, not a deal to close quickly.
See the actual piece before you decide
Ask for a live video call, the certificate of authenticity, and the Archive ID for any work you're considering — before an international transfer, not after.
Sources
- Art Loss Register — 2026-09-20
- Art Loss Register — 2026-09-20
- Hyperallergic — 2026-09-20
- Wikipedia — 2026-09-20
- Responsible Art Market (RAM) — 2026-09-20
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