When a Museum Asks to Borrow It

Once a loan is agreed the work travels, is unpacked by somebody else, hangs in somebody else's environment, and comes back. Every stage is a risk that the loan agreement is supposed to allocate, and lenders frequently sign those agreements without reading what they say about condition, insurance and who pays.

The return is the stage that gets least attention. A work comes back, it looks right, and the crate is set aside to be dealt with later. Comparing the return condition report against the departure record properly, item by item, is the entire reason both documents exist.

• A facility report from the borrowing institution, which you should read.
• Condition reporting at departure and on return, both ends.
• Insurance during transit and on display — usually the borrower's.
• A courier requirement for significant works.
• A defined return date, and what happens if it moves.

A borrowing institution provides a report describing its environment, security and handling. It is worth reading rather than filing, because it tells you what conditions your work will be in for the length of the loan.

If the report shows an environment materially different from where the work is normally kept, that is worth raising before agreeing rather than discovering in the condition report on return.

1. 01Condition report on departure, with photographs.
2. 02Release only to the agreed carrier, on your written authority.
3. 03Re-report condition on return, against the departure record.
4. 04Flag any discrepancy to you immediately.
5. 05Return the work to appropriate storage rather than leaving it crated.

Compare the return condition report against the departure one properly, item by item. It is the entire reason both exist, and it is skipped more often than it is done — usually because the work came back and looked fine at a glance.

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