Buyer's Guide · Hand-Painted Reproductions

Hand-Painted Oil Painting Reproductions: The Questions Buyers Actually Ask

By Dafen Art Hub · 16 October 2026 · Updated as our process changes

This page exists because most of the questions we get are the same twenty-odd questions, and most of them deserve a straight answer rather than a sales pitch. So here they are, answered plainly.

We are a working studio in Dafen Oil Painting Village, Shenzhen. We paint reproductions of public-domain paintings by hand, in oil, on canvas, to whatever size you need. Everything below is how we actually operate.

1. Cost and quotes

How much does a hand-painted oil reproduction cost?

It depends on three things — how large the canvas is, how much texture you want on the surface, and whether you want it framed. Because no two commissions are the same, we quote each one individually rather than publishing a rate card. Send us the size and frame you have in mind on WhatsApp and you will have an exact figure back, usually within the hour.

What we will not do is quote you a number before we know those three things. A price given without them is a guess, and a guess is the fastest way to an argument later.

Why is there no price list on the site?

Because a price list would be wrong for almost everyone reading it. Size moves the number more than anything else — it decides how much paint goes down and how many hours the painter spends on it — and framing and destination move it again.

In practice this works in your favour: instead of picking from a menu, you tell us what you actually want on your wall and we price that. One message, one figure, no rounding up to the nearest stock size.

What are your payment terms?

Seventy per cent deposit to start, thirty per cent after you have seen photographs of your finished painting and approved it. You are not asked to pay in full up front.

The gap between the two payments is deliberate. It is the point at which you can still say "the sky is too green" and have it changed, before the canvas is packed.

Are the frame and shipping included in the price?

No — both are quoted separately, once you have chosen them. Framing depends on the profile and finish you pick; shipping depends on the finished crate's size and where it is going.

Duties and import taxes are the buyer's responsibility (DAP). We will tell you the crate dimensions and weight so you can check what your country will charge before you commit.

2. Process and timing

How long does a hand-painted reproduction take?

Roughly two to four weeks of studio time, depending mostly on size and how much impasto the surface carries. After that the oil needs several more days to set before we can safely photograph and pack it.

That drying time is not optional and it is not padding. Oil paint hardens by oxidation, not evaporation — a canvas that looks dry on Tuesday can still be soft underneath on Friday.

What actually happens after I send a message?

A painter's studio replies, not a call centre or a chatbot. We confirm the painting you want, the size, the frame, and the destination, then we send you a quote.

Once you approve it, your canvas goes into the studio queue. You will hear from us again when there are photographs ready for you to look at — and not before, because there is nothing to show you until then.

Will I see my painting before it ships?

Yes. We send photographs of your actual finished canvas for approval before anything is packed. Nothing ships without your sign-off on those photographs.

This is the single most important step in the whole process, and it is the one that most reproduction sellers quietly skip.

What if it doesn't look right to me?

Tell us what to adjust. The approval stage exists precisely so that changes happen while the canvas is still in the studio and still easy to work on.

Be specific and it will get fixed. "The face is wrong" is hard to act on; "the eyes are too close together and the jaw is too square" is a ten-minute job.

Can I get photographs while it's being painted?

Ask and we will tell you what is possible for your canvas. The standard commitment is photographs of the finished painting before shipping — that is what we promise on every order.

3. Legality and honesty

Is it legal to own a reproduction of a famous painting?

Yes, provided the painting itself is in the public domain. When a work is out of copyright, reproducing it by hand is legal and owning that reproduction is legal anywhere in the world.

The line is the artist's death date, not the painting's fame. A Vermeer is free to reproduce; a 1960s Picasso is not.

Which artists can't you paint?

Any artist who is still living, and any who died less than seventy years ago. In practice that rules out Picasso, Dalí, Miró, Chagall, Magritte, Rothko, Pollock, Hopper, O'Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Norman Rockwell and Wu Guanzhong, among others.

If you ask for one of these we will say so rather than quietly painting it. Everything else in the catalogue is public domain and safe to own.

Do you issue certificates of authenticity?

No, and we never will. A certificate of authenticity asserts that a work is the original — ours are hand-painted reproductions and calling them anything else would be fraud.

What you do get is an honest description of what was made, how, and from what source image.

4. Quality and likeness

How close will it be to the original?

Composition, colour and drawing follow the original closely; the brushwork carries your painter's own hand. It is a painting of the painting, not a scan of it.

That last part is a feature, not a defect. Two painters working from the same Vermeer will produce two recognisably different surfaces, and both will be more alive than any print.

What materials do you use?

Oil paint on artist-grade canvas, worked in the traditional order — lean underpainting first, fatter, more loaded paint on top. That order is not a matter of taste: a fat layer under a lean one dries unevenly and cracks, which is why old copies fail and good ones do not.

We can work lightly glazed or heavily impastoed depending on the original you have chosen. Tell us which you prefer when you ask for a quote.

How can I tell a hand-painted canvas from a print?

Rake a light across the surface at a shallow angle. Real brushwork casts a shadow; printed texture does not, because it has no height. This is the single most reliable test and it takes two seconds in any room.

Two more tells. Look at the edges — a hand-painted canvas has paint wrapping onto the sides or a clear tacked margin, while a print is flat and often perfectly even to the border. And look into the dark passages: a print renders shadow as a smooth grey field, a painting keeps separate, slightly different colours in it.

Is a reproduction the same thing as a forgery?

No. A forgery is made to deceive a buyer into thinking it is the original. A reproduction is sold openly as a hand-painted copy of a public-domain work, at a fraction of the value of an original, to someone who knows exactly what they are buying.

The distinction comes down to disclosure. That is why we describe ours as reproductions everywhere on the site, and why we will not issue a certificate of authenticity — issuing one would be claiming the opposite of what we actually sell.

Will the colours match what I see on my screen?

Close, but not identical — no two screens agree, and paint and pixels make colour by opposite means. A screen emits light; a painting reflects it.

If a particular passage matters to you, say so when you order. A painter can push a sky warmer or cooler far more easily than you might expect.

How long will an oil painting last?

Decades, and in normal indoor conditions far longer than that. Oil paint is slow to change and does not require special treatment.

The failures people see are almost always environmental — direct sun, damp walls, or hanging above a radiator. Avoid those and the paint itself is not the problem.

5. Sizing and hanging

Can I order a size that is not listed?

Yes — any size. Every canvas is cut to your measurements rather than taken from stock, so unusual and oversized dimensions are routine rather than a special request.

Panoramic and very tall formats are fine too. We follow the original's proportions instead of cropping the image to suit a standard frame.

How do I choose the right size for my wall?

Measure the wall and send us a photograph of it. We will tell you honestly if the size you have in mind is too small — undersizing is by far the most common mistake, and it is much harder to notice on a screen than in a room.

As a rough guide, a piece above a sofa usually wants to span somewhere around two-thirds of the sofa's width. Above that it starts to feel like it is wearing the furniture.

Do you frame it?

We can, and it is quoted separately so that you can decide after seeing the finished canvas in photographs. Many buyers prefer to choose a frame once they can see the actual painted surface.

6. Shipping and customs

Do you ship worldwide?

Yes. Finished canvases are packed and shipped from our studio in Dafen Village, Shenzhen, to most countries.

Shipping is quoted as a separate line item once we know the finished crate's size and the destination.

Who pays customs duties and import taxes?

The buyer. Shipments go out on DAP terms, meaning duties and import taxes are for your account rather than being prepaid by us.

We will give you the crate dimensions and weight beforehand so you can check your country's rates before committing to anything.

How is the painting packed?

Protected surface, rigid backing, then a crate. Paintings are not rolled — a rolled canvas is a cracked canvas waiting to happen.

We send photographs of the packed crate along with the approval photographs, so you know exactly what is being handed to the carrier.

7. Custom work

Can you paint from my own photograph?

Yes. Send the image on WhatsApp with the size you want and we will tell you what is possible. Some photographs translate to oil better than others, and we would rather say so up front.

The same public-domain rule applies: we can paint from your own photographs, but we will not reproduce a living artist's copyrighted work.

Do you paint pets and family portraits?

Yes — pets and people are the two most common custom requests. Send a few photographs, ideally in daylight and at eye level with the subject.

The better the reference photograph, the better the painting. That matters more than any description you can write.

8. Hanging it

How do I hang a large canvas safely?

Find a stud if you can, and use a fixing rated for well above the painting's weight. A heavy oil canvas hung on a single small nail in plasterboard will eventually bring the fixing out with it.

For anything wide, use two fixings rather than one. Two points also stop the canvas from drifting out of level over time, which is the usual complaint with a single hook.

How do I clean an oil painting?

Dust it lightly with a dry, soft brush and keep it out of direct sun. That is genuinely all that is needed for decades.

Do not use water, cleaning sprays or furniture polish on the surface — they can soften or cloud an oil film that has taken years to harden. If a canvas ever needs real conservation, that is a job for a conservator, not a cloth.

9. Larger orders

Do you take hotel, restaurant or office projects?

Yes. We supply trade orders for hospitality and commercial interiors, including matched sets and consistent sizing across a series.

Lead time scales with quantity, so tell us the room count and the sizes early and we will give you a realistic schedule rather than an optimistic one.

10. Dafen Village

Where is Dafen Village?

Dafen is a neighbourhood in Longgang District, Shenzhen, in Guangdong Province, China. For about three decades it has been one of the world's largest centres for hand-painted oil reproductions, at its peak employing thousands of painters.

The village existed before that as a farming settlement; the painting industry arrived in the late 1980s and never really left.

Why order from Dafen instead of a local painter?

Because the painters here do this every working day, against the same set of old masters, and the price reflects a workshop economy rather than a gallery one.

You are also dealing with the studio that paints the work, not a reseller who will phone someone else and add a margin. That is the whole reason to buy here — and the reason the conversation happens on WhatsApp rather than through a price list.

If your question is not here, message us. You will get a person in the studio, not a form response.