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). Before Gambart, the London art world was dominated by the Royal Academy’s annual exhibition. Gambart broke this monopoly by creating a permanent, private commercial space. He was a master of marketing, often buying the copyrights to paintings to sell mass-produced engravings alongside the original canvases. The gallery earned its name because Gambart initially focused on bringing contemporary French and continental artists (such as the Barbizon School) to the English public. At the time, French art was considered the height of technical sophistication.

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 it 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. But by 1939, it appears to have ceased trading.