A guide for art buyers
Original or print? How to tell a hand-painted work
In short: an original is one of a kind, applied colour by colour by hand. A print is a copy of it, usually flat and made in any number. The quickest way to tell them apart is raking light: a painted surface casts shadows along its brush and palette-knife marks, a print stays smooth.
This guide covers every sign you can check without expert knowledge, from a look through a magnifying glass to the certificate of authenticity.
Original and print: what is the difference?
An original is made directly on the canvas. Every layer of paint is applied by hand, and no second copy looks exactly the same.
A print is a reproduction: a photo of the original is printed on paper or canvas, often in large runs. High-quality prints are called giclée or fine art prints, simple ones posters or canvas prints. They can be beautiful, but they are not unique, and they are usually worth far less than an original.
Raking light: does the surface have a relief?
Hold a lamp to the side of the picture or look at it at an angle. A painted surface shows ridges, edges and shadows wherever a brush or palette knife pushed the paint. The texture follows the image: where a colour is thick, it also stands out.
A print stays smooth, even if the image shows brushstrokes. Some prints are later coated with a clear textured layer. It usually looks even and does not quite match the colour transitions underneath.
Magnifying glass: dots or pigment?
Under a magnifying glass, ideally at ten times magnification, most prints show a regular pattern of tiny dots of colour. In a painting the pigment lies irregularly, and colours blend in streaks and along edges.
With very fine inkjet prints the dots are hard to see. Then raking light, the edges and the back will tell you more.
Edges and back: what the picture gives away
Look at the sides. On painted canvases the paint often wraps around the edge, with marks and small irregularities. On canvas prints the edge is printed, mirrored or white.
The wooden stretcher on the back proves nothing on its own, because canvas prints are stretched the same way. Paint marks, handwritten notes and numbers are more revealing: “12/100” means an edition, so a print, even if it is signed.
Certificate, signature and price
A certificate of authenticity should state the title, year, size and technique and be signed by the artist. It does not replace looking at the picture, but it makes clear what you are buying.
The price is a clue as well. A large “original” for 30 euros is almost always a print or a mass-produced copy. Hand-painted one-offs cost more because each one takes hours or days of work.
How to recognise my originals
I paint with acrylics, palette knives, brushes and foil techniques. This creates a relief that you see immediately in raking light and that no printer can reproduce. Every image exists exactly once, and I do not sell prints.
Every painting comes with a hand-signed certificate of authenticity in German and English, stating title, year, size and technique.
Written by Dan Sax, painter in Berlin. As of September 2026.