COLNAGHI TO MOVE TO NEW CUSTOM-BUILT PREMISES IN BURY STREET, ST. JAMES’S, IN 2016
Colnaghi, the renowned art gallery, enters an exciting new chapter as Konrad Bernheimer, Chairman of the 255 year-old firm, announces a merger with fine art dealers Coll & Cortés (London and Madrid). Combining the strengths and expertise of both firms, and diversifying their previous offering, Colnaghi will offer European Old Master paintings, sculptures and drawings, as well as art from the Spanish-speaking world.
A century after the firm moved from Pall Mall to Mayfair, Colnaghi will return to St. James’s in 2016, moving from Old Bond Street to a larger, custom-built gallery where they will present international Old Master paintings, sculptures and drawings in a fresh context suited to the 21st century. The company’s celebrated and treasured library will sit at the heart of the building.
Konrad Bernheimer, Chairman of Colnaghi: “Ever since I first took ownership of Colnaghi in 2002, I have always recognised that a large part of my role has been as a steward for the business and a custodian of its legacy. The decision of my business partner, Katrin Bellinger, to cease trading has coincided with my 65th year, and we are determined to position the company in a way that it will continue thrive into the future, and at the centre of this market. I am thrilled to welcome Jorge Coll and Nicolás Cortés as business partners, and look forward to working with two dynamic young dealers who represent a bright future for Colnaghi. They combine expertise with a fresh approach and have already made their mark selling to over 40 international museums, and having already achieved the rare feat of placing major works at The Metropolitan, The Prado and the Louvre in a single season. As Colnaghi enters a new chapter and returns to St. James’s 100 years after moving from Pall Mall to Mayfair, we look forward to combining our strengths and presenting the very best paintings, sculptures and drawings from all over Europe, as well as the Spanish-speaking world.”
Jorge Coll and Nicolás Cortés: “We are delighted to become a part of the Colnaghi story and to be able to work alongside Konrad, who we have always admired. We strongly believe in the market for traditional art and by joining forces with Konrad, and combining our strengths in a new, custom-built gallery in St. James’s, we believe we can offer an exciting, new destination where we can present paintings, sculptures and drawings with a fresh approach, and in a context suited to the 21st century.”
Colnaghi is expected to move to their new gallery in the first half of 2016, and will continue at their current premises on Old Bond Street until that time. The Coll & Cortés gallery in Madrid will continue to operate under that name for the foreseeable future. Further details of the new gallery will be announced at a later date.
Shortly after Konrad Bernheimer acquired P & D Colnaghi in 2002, Katrin Bellinger, the renowned dealer in Old Master Drawings, joined Colnaghi to continue her work under the company’s umbrella, establishing Katrin Bellinger at Colnaghi. Together they also acquired the famous Colnaghi Library and Archives, regarded as one of the most valuable assets of the firm. The archives have been moved to Windmill Hill on the Waddesdon Estate where they are stored under perfect climate conditions, together with the Rothschild Archives, thanks to a generous arrangement with Lord Rothschild. Katrin will cease trading at the end of the year to focus on her commitments in the museum world and on the activities of her Tavalozza Foundation. Konrad Bernheimer: “After many years of very successful and harmonious collaboration, I will miss Katrin as the most friendly and charming business partner, always reliable and with her very distinct eye for quality.”
Colnaghi
Founded in 1760, Colnaghi is one of the most renowned and venerable art galleries in the world. A print publisher and dealer in the 18th century, Colnaghi moved to Pall Mall in 1786 becoming the destination of choice for collectors and, by the early 19th century, being appointed Printsellers to the Prince Regent, later George IV. The company’s prominent position saw them work with celebrated artists including John Constable, for whom they arranged the exhibition of ‘The Hay Wain’ at the Paris Salon in 1824 where the painting was awarded the Gold Medal. From the late 19th century, Colnaghi assumed a dominant position in the field of Old Masters, pioneering the market during the early 20th century as American millionaires acquired European masters from aristocratic collections and built the foundations of their great institutions. In 1911, the firm moved to New Bond Street, and in 1930, it oversaw the sale by The Soviet Government of some of the greatest masterpieces from The Hermitage, the bulk of which were acquired by Mr. Andrew Mellon and are now found in The National Gallery of Art, Washington. In 1940, the company moved to Old Bond Street and in 1970, Colnaghi was modernized after it was acquired by The Hon. Jacob (now Lord) Rothschild, who rejuvenated the business, appointing a number of young Directors and encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation. In 2002, Colnaghi was acquired by Konrad Bernheimer, a long established art dealer from Munich whose family had been purveyors of antiques and works of art to the Royal House of Bavaria in the 19th century. He was soon joined by Katrin Bellinger, a renowned specialist dealer of Old Master drawings. Colnaghi continues to be recognised as one of the greatest and most successful art galleries, and builds its longstanding tradition of selling works of art to international museums including, in the last 5 years, to Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Princely Collections of Lichtenstein, among others.
Coll & Cortes
Coll & Cortés was founded in 2005 by Jorge Coll and Nicolás Cortés. Launched with a gallery on Calle Justiniano in Madrid, the business expanded at the end of 2012 by opening a gallery in London's Mayfair. Since their inception Coll & Cortés has aimed to source and sell the best examples of European paintings and sculptures, as well as arts from the Spanish-speaking world. Coll & Cortés has presented a number of exhibitions and publications focused on areas of art history that may have been overlooked, but which are rich in quality and cultural significance. Their first two exhibitions, Masters of Baroque (2005) and The Time of Painting (2007), were scholarly surveys of painting in Spain from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Their following exhibition in 2009 addressed polychrome wood sculpture and was timed to coincide with The Sacred Made Real, a seminal exhibition on the same subject held at The National Gallery in London. The Mystery of Faith presented a turning point both in the recognition of the Coll & Cortés gallery but also in the appeal - both aesthetic and commercial - of Spanish polychrome wood sculpture. Their fourth project was dedicated to the arts of the Spanish-speaking world in all its forms, from painting to sculpture, tapestries to furniture, silver to ivories. This survey was aimed not only at promoting individual works of art but also at gathering and publishing the most recent scholarly research on this highly specialised subject. Their recent publications on artists including Leone and Pompeo Leoni, Guglielmo della Porta, Pedro de Mena and Guercino were further attempts at presenting the finest objects on the market with the most up-to-date scholarship. Their current publication Granada: The Mystic Baroque is a brief study of the city’s rich cultural heritage. The first part is a survey of its many museums, churches and fraternities, as well as of the paintings and sculptures within them. The second includes detailed investigations of seventeen baroque sculptures carved by the leading Granadiño artists broadly active between 1620 and 1740. The Coll & Cortés gallery has proudly been exhibiting at The European Fine Art Fair, Maastricht, since 2012, Spring Masters, New York, since 2014, and London Art Week since 2014. The gallery also participated at Frieze Masters in 2013 and 2014.
