SECTION 01
The Contract
A painting contract is a specification. It settles what the object must contain, what it is made of, when it must be finished, and which parts of it the man who signed is obliged to paint himself. These five entries take the document clause by clause.
- The Commission Is the UnitAlmost nothing was painted speculatively. A contract named the subject, the figures, the materials, the size, the price, the schedule and the penalty — and reading one tells you more about the painting than most catalogue entries.
- Subject and Figures, SpecifiedHow precisely the content was dictated, down to which saints appear and where they stand.
- Term and PenaltyDeadlines with money attached. What happened when a painter overran, and how often they did.
- Approval and ArbitrationWho judged whether the work was acceptable, and the named third parties brought in when the two sides disagreed.
- Price, and Paid in StagesAdvance, interim and final payment tied to progress — a structure that shaped how the work was actually sequenced.
Other sections
The register runs across five of them.