The Spanish Art Gallery was one of the more prominent art and antiques dealerships operating in London during the first half of the twentieth century. The business was founded by Lionel Harris (1852–1943), who expanded from the trade in jewellery and precious stones into art and antiques. The firm is documented under the name The Spanish Art Gallery from 1907 and remained active until around 1951.[1]
Harris’s particular strength lay in his exceptional access to the Spanish art market. From Madrid and London, the firm acquired paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture and other antiques, which were subsequently offered to an international clientele. Spanish, Flemish and Hispano-Flemish Old Masters played a particularly important role in the gallery’s trade.[2]
An international art dealership
The Spanish Art Gallery was far more than a local London antiques business. The firm maintained commercial relationships with major American art dealers and collectors and sold works to museums in Europe and North America. Documented clients included the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the National Gallery of Canada. The Victoria and Albert Museum also maintained contacts with the Harris firm over a period of several decades.[2][4]
The provenance of paintings handled by the gallery illustrates the international nature of this market. Works originating in Spanish private and ecclesiastical collections could pass through London before entering the collections of private collectors, other art dealers and, ultimately, museums in the United States, Canada and elsewhere.
Lionel, Maurice and Tomás Harris
The next generation also remained active in the art trade. Lionel Harris’s sons, Maurice Harris, Lionel Harris Jr. and Tomás Harris, were involved at various times in the family businesses. Related enterprises included The Kent Gallery and Tomas Harris Ltd. Tomás in particular specialised in painting and developed considerable expertise in Spanish and Flemish Old Masters.[1][2]
Provenance and the Spanish art trade
The activities of The Spanish Art Gallery are today also the subject of art-historical provenance research. The firm played an important role in the international circulation of Spanish art, while at the same time contributing to the dispersal of large numbers of works from Spanish collections. It is precisely this dual significance, making Spanish art accessible to an international market while also contributing to the removal and dispersal of Spain’s cultural heritage, that makes the firm particularly relevant to researchers today.[2]
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Footnotes
[1] University of Leeds, Antique Dealers: The British Antique Trade in the 20th Century, entry “The Spanish Art Gallery”; trade names and addresses of the firm.
[2] María José Martínez Ruiz, “The Spanish Art Gallery, Londres: su papel en la difusión y dispersión del arte hispánico”, in L. Arciniega García and A. Serra Desfilis (eds.), Recepción, imagen y memoria del arte del pasado, Universidad de Valencia, 2018, pp. 393–421.
[3] Johns Hopkins University, Cultural Properties, provenance record for Portrait of a Wife / Portrait of a Husband, Ambrosius Benson.
[4] Mariam Rosser-Owen, “About the cover”, postmedieval 15 (2024), pp. 903–905; with references to the Victoria and Albert Museum archives concerning L. Harris & Co. and The Spanish Art Gallery.