Agnew's

Officially known as Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd but more commonly called simply Agnew's this West End of London-based gallery was founded in Manchester in 1817 when Agnew (1794-1871) became a partner with Vittore Zanetti, (1770-1856) having been apprenticed to him since 1810. Thomas Agnew became sole proprietor in 1835 and retired a decade before he died. It is thus one of the UK's oldest art dealerships. By the 20th century, it had established itself as one of the world’s leading international commercial art galleries, with a range of pictures covering Old Master paintings, British paintings, Master prints, French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art and Contemporary British paintings. The gallery has an almost unrivalled British record of having sold some of the world's greatest masterpieces. These include Velázquez’s 'Rokeby Venus' now in the collection of the National Gallery and Rembrandt's 'Self Portrait' in Washington’s National Gallery. The company occupied its purpose-built Bond Street premises from 1877. But, in July 2008 because of soaring overheads and a slump in the Old Masters art market, it was forced to sell the building for a reported £25m. It has since relocated to nearby Albemarle Street close to the Royal Academy and concentrates now on more contemporary art. The brand name was sold privately and the gallery is now run by Lord Anthony Crichton-Stuart, a former head of the Christie's Old Master paintings department in New York, USA.