Art is a rather interesting subject, isn't it? Coupled with preserving the
history of your firm, it seems that the retention answer would be a rather
long term time period.

You do not mention if your plan is to actually keep the portraits, but I
assume that you would or that you would offer them to the partner or family
members. It may be important to insure these items. You may find that the
artist(s) could be important or that the partner was/is important to the
history of your area.

I guess you can look at this from several angles. As mentioned above,
preserving the history of the firm. Paintings in any media require good,
appropriate conditions for storage and also appropriate the environment for
display. They are subject to damage by sunlight and really are fragile
regardless of their medium.

Perhaps this is a better question for an archivist, a curator, or a
historian. I am surrounded by art here. It is rotated and conserved
regularly. The legal world surrounding art is fasinating - a whole separate
field. And a separate subject.

Sharon Burnett
Seattle Washington USA

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