In the art world, if an artwork exists in several versions, the one known or believed to be the earliest is called the prime version. Many artworks produced in media such as painting or carved sculpture which create unique objects are in fact repeated by their artists, often several times. It is regarded as a matter of some importance both by art historians and the art market to establish which version has "priority", that is to say was the original work. The presumption usually is that the prime version is the finest, and perhaps the most carefully done, though some later versions can be argued to improve on the originals.
Rear view of the Louvre's prime version of Antonio Canova's Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, 1793
The London version of Portrait of Pope Julius II by Raphael, 1511–12, recognized since 1970 as the prime version
Aeneas' Flight from Troy by Federico Barocci, image of the replica version in Rome.
The Orleans Collection was a very important collection of over 500 paintings formed by Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, mostly acquired between about 1700 and his death in 1723. Apart from the great royal-become-national collections of Europe it is arguably the greatest private collection of Western art, especially Italian, ever assembled, and probably the most famous, helped by the fact that most of the collection has been accessible to the public since it was formed, whether in Paris, or subsequently in London, Edinburgh and elsewhere.
Jupiter and Io by Correggio, one of the few paintings to leave the Orleans Collection before the French Revolution. (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)
Allegory of Wisdom and Strength (c. 1580) by Veronese, originally painted for Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor, now in the Frick Collection, New York.
Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, 1552–1612, deposed by his family after he turned into a recluse
Christina of Sweden, 1626–1689, went into exile when she wanted to convert to Catholicism