The French Gallery

The gallery was originally founded by Belgian-born Ernest Gambart (1814-1902) probably just before 1854. Gambart had arrived in London in 1840 as an employee of the Goupil Gallery. He soon began to buy and sell prints and c.1854 he established the Gallery at 120/121 Pall Mall (now the site of a Spanish bank). The Gallery was one of the first commercial galleries dedicated to the sale of contemporary art in London. The business relocated in 1867 to King Street, Mayfair and by 1870 Gambart had retired leaving the business to his nephew Léon Lefèvre and became known as Pilgeram & Lefèvre. It survives as the Lefevre Fine Art, Bruton Street, London. The gallery had three locations namely 158 New Bond Street, (1930-1931), 11 Berkeley Square (c. 1932-at least 1937) and finally, 35 Old Bond Street by 1939 when it appears to have ceased trading.