The two operational phases
- Advice: analysis of the collector's needs, guidance on artists and buying or selling channels, examination of the works proposed, and coordination of due diligence. The starting point is always the client's vision.
- Representation: negotiation of prices and terms with galleries, dealers and auction houses, handling of private treaty negotiations and execution of the client's instructions, ensuring the proper transfer of title and the completeness of the documentation.
The pillars of independence
What an advisor does not do is what defines their neutrality. Independence rests on precise constraints:
- The advisor holds no inventory and no works of their own to place.
- The advisor does not accept works on consignment and never acts as a dealer.
- The advisor receives no commissions or fees from galleries, auction houses, restorers or shippers.
Advisor, appraiser and collection manager: the distinction
- Art advisor: advises on and negotiates market transactions on the client's behalf.
- Appraiser: prepares reasoned, third-party valuations that carry legal weight. To avoid conflicts of interest, if they have appraised a work, they cannot then handle its sale in the capacity of advisor.
- Collection manager: looks after the existing collection (inventory, conservation, movements) without taking part in purchases or sales.
The three activities may be carried out by the same professional under formally separate and disclosed engagements. The only incompatibility concerns the same work: whoever has appraised it does not then handle its sale as advisor.
The contractual framework
The advisory relationship does not depend on a formal title but on the written contract with the client, which defines powers, the scope of the transaction and the fee. Protection of the legal aspects and of title to the works remains the province of the lawyer.