An international and family-run gallery and advisory service dating back to 1936, the Richard Green team operates out of two galleries on Bond Street. Jonathan Green is now at the helm of this true Mayfair institution, which specialises in high-quality painting from the 17th century to the middle of the 20th.
Business is booming, and it has added two Tefaf NY shows to its rich calendar of international art fairs. The gallery has sold some exquisite paintings, too, including Caspar Netscher’s Woman Feeding a Parrot (1666) to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.
‘The art market has been generally steady and robust,’ says Green. ‘There were short-term uncertainties owing to the election and the tragic terrorist attacks, but the strength of the US dollar has been very welcome and has had a positive effect on our sales.’
Green’s advice to speculative buyers is to look at the Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings, ‘as they are exquisite works of art and currently undervalued’, as well as delving into the modern British market – the Henry Moores, Barbara Hepworths and Patrick Herons – which have been rising strongly for some time.
If he could, Green would steal the Rembrandt Self-Portrait from the Frick Collection: ‘I think it is one of the most intimate, searingly honest and emotionally charged paintings I have ever seen; a self-portrait of a genius at the end of his life, reflecting on his triumphs and his failures.’