We do it every day; buy things we haven’t seen, touched or tested by clicking that enticing Buy Now button on a million different websites. But this is usually for simple purchases like CDs, books, minor gifts, holidays and the like (one day last week, the all-consuming USA spent $733 million online). Well now it seems that the heady world of art collectors have ventured into the realms of online acquisitions, buying paintings without even seeing them in a gallery.

You’d think that the convenience of buying your art online is far outweighed by the experience of seeing the piece in situ, examining it in fine detail (under infra red light in some cases) and get a feel for the presence of whatever it is you’re looking to add to your collection. But sitting in the comfort of your leather chair, with your leather-bound laptop and your leather-bound cheque book, seems to have become the preferred way to buy your Old Master, without the tedium of mixing with other people.

So are auction sites the way forward for the lazy collector, where we buy the name rather than the piece, building up bulk collections as opposed to well-chosen art, deciding what goes with what because we have seen it in real life? Maybe for lounge art, something to hang over the mantelpiece, but for classics? Do me a favour.

Image courtesy of JezebelGreywater at DeviantArt