Sue Bond Public Relations

Colnaghi Ltd, 15 Old Bond Street, London, W1S 4AX, UNITED KINGDOM

Friday 16 July 2010

Friday 30 July 2010

www.colnaghi.co.uk

Colnaghi, the world’s oldest commercial art gallery, will mount a fascinating exhibition to commemorate its 250th anniversary from 16 June to 30 July 2010. The exhibition, Colnaghi – 250 Years of Dealing in Art, which coincides with the London art fairs and the second staging of Master Paintings Week (3 to 9 July 2010) will draw upon some of the hidden treasures of the Colnaghi archive and also include a selection of prints, photographs, drawings and manuscripts to illustrate their long history. Visitors will have the opportunity to scrutinise old account books recording some of the great art deals of the past and piece together the progress of various sales from unpublished letters in the Colnaghi archive.

Monday to Friday, 10am to 6pm
Saturday 3 July, 10am to 5pm
Sunday 4 July, 12noon to 5pm

Colnaghi – The History will provide an intriguing contribution to Master Paintings Week and give visitors a unique insight into a gallery which has a long and proud tradition of handling some of the world’s greatest paintings, drawings, prints and photographs.

There will be a special lunchtime lecture on the sale of Titian’s Europa on Monday 5 July given by Jeremy Howard, Head of Research and organiser of the exhibition.

The celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Colnaghi include a Study Day on Friday 2 July. The eminent speakers will be Timothy Clayton, author of The English Print 1660-1802, whose subject will be From Fireworks to Old Masters: Colnaghi and Printselling 1760-1880; Jeremy Howard, talking about Otto Gutekunst: A Masterly Old Master Dealer of the Gilded Age; Dr Nicholas Penny, Director of the National Gallery, on Mrs Gutekunst and the gift of Vincenzo Catena’s Portrait of Doge Andrea Gritti to the National Gallery; Cynthia Saltzman, author of Old Masters, New World-America’s Raid on Europe’s Great Pictures 1880-World War 1, discussing The Finest Things: Colnaghi, Isabella Stewart Gardner and Henry Clay Frick; Professor David Ekserdjian, University of Leicester, on Colnaghi & James Byam Shaw and finally Stephen Somerville, art dealer and consultant and former Head of the Colnaghi English Drawings and Watercolours Department, whose reminiscence Jackie O and I: Recollections of Colnaghi 1968-1975 will round off what promises to be a fascinating day.