Provenance covers an object's complete documented history. An artifact may thus have both a provenience and a provenance. The provenance of works of fine art, antiques and antiquities is of great importance, especially to their owner. There are a number of reasons why painting provenance is important, which mostly also apply to other types of fine art. A good provenance increases the value of a painting, and establishing provenance may help confirm the date, artist and, especially for portraits, the subject of a painting. It may confirm whether a painting is genuinely of the period it seems to date from. The
To be, or not to be vndiſcouered Countrey, from whoſe Borne<br> No Traueller returnes, Puzels the will,<br> And makes vs rather beare those illes we haue,<br> Then flye to others that we know not of.<br> Thus Conſcience does make Cowards of vs all,<br> And thus the Natiue hew of Resolution<br> Is ſicklied o’re, with the pale caſt of Thought,<br> And enterprizes of great pith and moment,<br> With this regard their Currants turne away,<br> And looſe the name of Action. Soft you now,<br> The faire "Ophelia?" Nimph, in thy Orizons<br> Be all my ſinnes remembred. "To be, or not to be" is one of the most widely