How to spot a knackered picture

When it comes to Old Masters, it is questions of attribution that tend to excite both buyers and sellers the most. Everything depends on whether a painting is right. But often something just as important is overlooked: the question of its condition. A painting can be as right or as wrong as it likes, but if it is in terrible condition, or has been restored to within an inch of its life, then the attribution might as well not matter.How, then, can a pictures condition best be assessed? What shou