What does a custom painting reproduction involve?

Can you guess which is the original painting and which is the reproduction?

If you thought the painting on the left is the original, you’re right!

The painting on the right is an oil reproduction hand‑painted by a professional artist.

The differences in painting reproductions are shaped by the time elapsed, the type of pigment used, the artist’s skill and the canvas itself. However, buyers of painting replicas accept these small differences, and some even prefer the vibrant colours of reproductions over the originals!

Only in major art forgeries is it very difficult to tell the original from the reproduction, because special techniques are used there to artificially age the paintings.

Let’s look at some of the methods used to reproduce paintings:

Reproducing paintings printed on canvas

This niche of printed painting copies is on the rise, as traditional canvases are used, mainly cotton, with ink applied by large‑format printers such as Epson. Within this category there are Giclée canvas prints, using traditional dyes or long‑lasting “archival” pigments. There are also embellished fabric prints. The technique is simple: an image is printed on cotton or synthetic canvas and, once the ink is dry, an artist adds oil paint on top, enhancing the piece and adding texture.

There is a clear difference between paintings that are mass‑printed on canvas and those produced with the Giclée method. See the diagram below:

In the image on the left, the painting is printed with standard ink. On the right, the painting is printed using the Giclée technique.

With Giclée, resolution matters! Any image you plan to use for fine‑art printing should be at least 300 DPI relative to the physical size you want to produce.

Used interchangeably in the printing world, DPI means dots per inch and refers to the number of physical dots printed within a given square inch.

That said, the look of a high‑quality art print depends heavily on the quality and resolution of the digital image, and we already know that images with that level of resolution are rare and very hard to find. A simple Google search is not enough.

Reproducing paintings printed on paper or sheet (posters)

In offset printing, an image is separated into four “colour channels” known as CMYK. This stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

These prints, also called offset prints, are also subject to the quality of the source image (its resolution), the printer used, the inks and the paper. There is always a risk that the source image is low resolution and therefore the final product will also be low quality. Although there are photographs of famous paintings available for free online, very few can actually be found at the resolution needed to create a print worthy of the artwork. The only way to achieve this is by scanning the works with specialised scanners. Of course, with this type of painting reproduction there is zero texture, and that “cheap print” look is a hallmark of the result. This is not the right path for anyone who wants a high‑quality copy of a painting.

Offset printing is one of the oldest and most widely used printing methods and has been around since the 1870s, but it is not highly recommended for quality art reproductions.

The result is generally poor and disappointing for the buyer. It’s worth repeating the old saying here: you get what you pay for.

Oil painting reproductions authorised by the artist

Oil painting reproduction in the visual arts dates back to the 16th century, when it was common practice for art students to copy the old masters to learn how to paint. The process of copying a masterpiece allowed them to practise a skilled painting style while developing their own. This made it possible for ordinary people to own oil painting reproductions of works worth thousands of dollars. Leonardo first learned to paint in his master’s style before following his own approach, and then went on to copy his master’s painting style.

By copying a painting, the student learns the artist’s method: their approach, and how they handle colour mixing and gradations.

At the end of the 19th century, Degas diligently copied masterpieces by his favourite artist, Ingres. He also made a careful large‑scale copy of Poussin’s The Rape of the Sabine Women, now housed in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. The list of famous artists who copied the old masters is endless; Landseer after Rubens; John Singer Sargent after Velázquez; Henri Fantin‑Latour after Titian and Veronese, Géricault after Caravaggio; Watteau after Titian, Van Dyck after Tintoretto, Matsys after Raphael, to name just a few.

This practice was so widespread that even Picasso made the famous remark, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.”

Reproducing paintings with screen printing

The technique of reproducing images through screen printing has existed for more than 100 years. It is a medium that has been used to astonishing effect by artists such as Andy Warhol, Romero Britto, LeRoy Neiman and many others. But what exactly is a screen print? The term comes from “seri”, Latin for “silk”, and “graphos”, ancient Greek for “writing”. The word was coined at the beginning of the last century to distinguish the artistic use of the medium from its more common commercial purpose. Screen printing is familiar to us in countless forms, from T‑shirt logos to posters.

The roots of this medium run deep in history. It was used especially in Far Eastern countries such as China and Japan as a technique for applying stencils to fabrics and screens. Screen printing is closely related to woodblock printing, which first emerged in those countries for similar purposes.

Night of Fantasy, Itzchak Tarkay

Both techniques were adopted by European artists and craftsmen in the 15th century and further developed for a wide variety of decorative and artistic applications.

At its most basic level, screen printing involves blocking out portions of silk or a similar material with a coating. First, the silk is stretched over a frame attached with hinges to a base. Then the image window is masked with tape and a layer of shellac or glue is applied. Any part of the silk left exposed becomes the design through which ink or another pigment, such as paint, is pushed with a squeegee or brush. This simplified description hardly does justice to the technical flexibility and artistic versatility of the medium.

Reproducing paintings on photographic paper

A good painting reproduction on photographic paper is produced on archival‑quality matte paper. This is the best paper for preserving fine art, as it is a specialised, long‑lasting paper for painting reproductions and photographic work. It has a smooth surface, heavy weight (230 g), neutral white tone and matte finish, designed for accurate colour reproduction with high contrast and high‑resolution output. Acid‑free paper is preferred, making it the perfect choice for both photographs and fine‑art reproductions. It’s worth noting that this type of painting reproduction is also subject to the quality of the paper.

How can you tell the quality of a painting reproduction?

Even within the categories above there are major differences in quality, price, size and colour fidelity when it comes to reproducing paintings.

At Kuadros we cater specifically to a demanding clientele looking for high‑quality oil painting reproductions. These are hand‑painted copies created with exceptional skill, where artists specialised in replication strive to get as close as possible to the original author’s intent.

To achieve this, we work with more than 60 master painters who graduated from fine arts schools. These artists are based in different parts of the world, from Venezuela to Haiti in the Americas, and across China and Japan.

Who leads the market in oil painting reproductions?

Today there are two main schools for large‑volume painting reproduction: those that use European artists and those that use Chinese artists. Companies that work with European artists to create copies charge much more for their paintings than those that work with Chinese painters. But is the huge price difference really justified?

What is the quality difference between these two schools of painting reproduction?

There is no quality difference determined by the geography of the painter who reproduces the work. Unlike many Chinese products that (rightly) have a questionable reputation for quality, Chinese art reproductions are often equal or superior to those by European artists. Why? Chinese artists have a considerable advantage in experience, as Chinese painting studios have been producing large‑scale reproductions for more than three decades.

It’s worth knowing a bit of this history. In 1989, a Hong Kong businessman and artist named Huang Jiang visited the city of Shenzhen and set out to transform the run‑down village of Dafen into a workshop for oil painting reproduction.

By renting several houses and recruiting a dozen apprentices, he created a business that worked like a factory production line, efficiently producing Van Goghs, Da Vincis and Rembrandts and selling them around the world. By the late 1990s, Jiang’s business had grown to include more than 2,000 workers. Many apprentices eventually branched out and set up their own reproduction studios.

Several of the master painters who work with Kuadros today come from the original group of those first artists trained by master Huang Jiang.

But not all reproductions from China are the same. Today you can buy cheap painting reproductions on Chinese marketplaces such as AliExpress. Many of these replicas are low quality, although buyers who don’t know the difference are generally satisfied.

Specialised artists in China still charge quite a lot for their work, as the average production time for a 60 x 90 cm painting is at least 2 to 3 weeks. On top of that you have to add drying time and international shipping.

What affects the price of an oil painting reproduction?

The price of reproductions of famous paintings is determined by several factors:

• The artist who paints the work. Skilled, experienced master painters charge more than apprentices or artists who are new to reproduction techniques.
• The size of the painting. Here, size really does matter. Reproducing a 60 x 90 cm painting is not the same as a 120 x 200 cm one, because of course more canvas, more paint and, above all, more time are required. In many cases, the artist who reproduces paintings charges more for their time than for the materials.
• The canvas. Synthetic canvases are cheaper than cotton, and cotton is cheaper than linen.
• The pigments.
• The number of figures in the painting
• The level of detail and complexity of the painting

Are painting reproductions worth anything?

In general, art reproductions have a low value compared to originals that sell for millions at auction. Fine‑art painting replicas are not an investment in the same way as original art.

On the other hand, there is no guarantee that an original artwork will increase in value either. Of course, there are exceptions among art reproductions, especially oil painting reproductions. For example, if Banksy were to paint a reproduction of Klimt’s The Kiss, that reproduction would be worth a great deal because it would have been painted by a famous artist. But in general, art reproductions are worth whatever someone is willing to pay for them.

Because most later copies after the old masters were undervalued for so long, their authorship was rarely recorded, so they have often come down to us as anonymous works. And yet we still make an effort to understand the influence of truly great works on younger or later artists and students.

Reproductions of famous paintings are often remarkably affordable. Buying a copy of a famous painting would put you in good company: King Charles I, England’s most famous and sophisticated art collector, owned a large number of copies (almost 70 in total), including many copies of paintings whose originals he already possessed. In addition to buying these paintings himself, Charles also received copies as gifts from members of his court.

As in King Charles’s case, it’s clear that the satisfaction of owning a replica does not lie in its commercial value, but in being able to admire a little of what the artist sought to capture in the original work.

Some tips before buying an oil painting reproduction:

In the painting reproduction industry, you really do get what you pay for. If you opt for a printed reproduction, don’t expect too much.

Always compare the replica with the original so you can see the differences and judge for yourself how good or poor the reproduction is.

It is almost impossible to reproduce an oil painting with 100% accuracy. Don’t be misled by deceptive claims.

You should also look closely at the guarantee offered by the provider.

Be realistic about how long you should wait for your reproduction. Unless it is a printed piece, oil paintings take several weeks to be painted, carefully packed so they are not damaged, and shipped to their destination. On average, a buyer receives a commissioned painting in about 6 weeks, but in some cases this can extend to 8 or even 10 weeks.

About KUADROS oil reproductions of famous paintings

Our museum‑quality reproductions are 100% hand‑painted by professional artists with many years of experience creating oil‑on‑canvas replicas.

All our paintings come directly from the studio. We do not work with intermediaries, nor do we have galleries or showrooms.

The hallmark of Kuadros paintings is quality and assurance, as each work, in addition to being painted by an expert artist, is periodically reviewed by master painters in charge of quality control.

The result is a work of exceptional beauty created just for you.

You can also see Frequently Asked Questions about oil painting reproduction.

Kuadros, a famous painting on your wall.