Art Provenance Template: What to Include and How to Format

Provenance records follow conventions that have been refined over centuries of art dealing and scholarship. Getting the format right matters -- auction houses, museums, and insurers expect ownership histories written in a specific way. A provenance record that looks improvised undermines confidence in the underlying research, even if the facts are accurate.

This template breaks down every field, explains the standard abbreviations, and shows what a completed record looks like using the conventions outlined by the Getty Research Institute.

Object Identification Fields

Every provenance record begins with a clear identification of the artwork. These fields anchor the ownership history to a specific, verifiable physical object:

Object ID is your internal tracking number -- every collection management system assigns one. Artist includes nationality and life dates. Title appears in italics per convention. Dimensions always list height before width, in metric with imperial equivalents. Accession/Inv. references the catalogue raisonné number (here, Daniel Wildenstein's catalogue of Monet, entry W.1504).

Ownership Chain: How to Format Each Entry

The ownership section is the heart of the provenance record. Each entry in the chain follows this structure:

Standard methods of transfer and their abbreviations:

• (by purchase) or (purchased from...) -- acquired through a sale
• (by descent) -- inherited from a family member
• (by gift) or (gift of...) -- received without payment
• (by bequest) -- inherited through a will
• (by exchange) -- traded for another work
• (on consignment) -- held by a dealer for sale on behalf of the owner
• (seized by...) -- confiscated, typically wartime
• (restituted to...) -- returned to rightful owner after seizure

When you don't know the exact acquisition date, the word "by" signals that the owner held the work no later than the given year. For example, "by 1910" means we can confirm ownership by 1910 but don't know exactly when it began. A dash between years (1910-1937) indicates the known period of ownership.

Complete Example: A Realistic Provenance Record

Here's what a fully documented provenance record looks like, following the format used by major auction houses and the Getty standard:

Notice a few things about this example. Dealers include stock numbers when known. Auctions include the house, city, date, and lot number. The "Private Collection, Zurich, by 1948" entry covers a gap -- we know someone in Zurich had the painting by 1948 but can't confirm who. That gap between 1935 and 1948 would receive extra scrutiny today given the wartime period it spans.

Tips for Writing Clean Provenance Records

After reviewing hundreds of provenance records in our work with collectors and institutions, these are the most common formatting mistakes and how to avoid them:

• Be consistent with separators. Use semicolons between owners, not a mix of semicolons and periods. Each entry ends with a semicolon except the last, which ends with a period.
• Spell out cities fully. "NYC" and "LA" aren't acceptable in provenance records. Use "New York" and "Los Angeles."
• Don't editorialize. Provenance is factual documentation, not narrative. Save interpretive notes for a separate research file.
• Cite your sources. Keep a parallel notes file linking each provenance claim to its supporting evidence -- the receipt, the catalogue entry, the auction record. The provenance itself stays clean; the sourcing lives alongside it.
• Flag uncertainty. Use brackets for information that's inferred but not confirmed: "[possibly acquired at the Durand-Ruel sale, 1903]." This is honest and helps future researchers.

For a broader look at how provenance fits into authentication and collection due diligence, see our complete provenance tracking guide.

Automating Provenance Documentation

Maintaining provenance records in word processors or spreadsheets works until it doesn't. When you're managing 50+ works, the formatting breaks down, source documents get separated from the records they support, and version control becomes a nightmare when multiple people need access.

Collection management software solves this by giving provenance its own structured data layer. Each ownership entry has dedicated fields for name, dates, city, and transfer method. Supporting documents -- scanned receipts, auction catalogue pages, photographs of verso labels -- attach directly to the entries they verify. Exports produce properly formatted provenance summaries that match the conventions auction houses and insurers expect.

ArtVault Pro's provenance module takes this further by linking ownership entries to exhibition records and condition reports, creating a complete object history rather than an isolated ownership list. When you need to generate a catalogue entry or insurance summary, the provenance pulls through automatically -- no reformatting, no copying between documents.

Frequently Asked Questions

Structured provenance, not spreadsheet chaos

ArtVault Pro formats ownership records to Getty standards and links them to supporting documents automatically.

Request a Demo →

← More Guides