Commission agreement

I recently nego­ti­ated a com­mis­sion to cre­ate a paint­ing. I thought post­ing a copy might be use­ful. The name of the cus­tomer was changed to pro­tect privacy.

Com­mis­sion agreement

1. This is an agree­ment between John Smith (“John”) and David Rourke (“David”).
2. David will cre­ate a paint­ing accord­ing to sub­ject mat­ter and com­po­si­tion cho­sen by John.
3. The paint­ing will be approx­i­mately ____ x ____ inches in size. It will be com­pleted in oil paint using professional-quality mate­ri­als and methods.
4. David will com­plete the paint­ing, to the best of his abil­ity, within three months.
5. John will pay David a total of _____________________ dol­lars (not includ­ing applic­a­ble sales tax) for the paint­ing. Pay­ment is due as follows:
   1. One third of the total price upon com­ple­tion of this agree­ment. David will then cre­ate one or more pre­lim­i­nary com­po­si­tion draw­ings for review and approval by John.
   2. One third of the total price upon approval of the final com­po­si­tion draw­ing by John. David will then pre­pare the can­vas and com­plete the paint­ing within a mutu­ally agree­able time frame.
   3. One third of the total price upon deliv­ery of the com­pleted painting.
6. Pay­ment is not refund­able. How­ever, John can end this agree­ment at any time with notice in writ­ing to David.
7. Fram­ing is not included in the price.
8. Although John will own the paint­ing and has the right to dis­play it as he sees fit, David retains copy­right of the image. This agree­ment pro­vides John with autho­riza­tion to use pho­tographs of the paint­ing for per­sonal, non-commercial use. Any other use of any image of the paint­ing or por­tion or deriv­a­tive thereof requires prior autho­riza­tion in writ­ing from David.
9. David will deliver the com­pleted paint­ing to John when it is suf­fi­ciently dry for hang­ing. It is rec­om­mended that the paint­ing receive a coat of pro­tec­tive var­nish approx­i­mately six months after com­ple­tion. Upon request, David will var­nish the paint­ing at no addi­tional cost.