Galerie Robert Finck was one of the established Brussels art dealerships specializing in Old Masters during the second half of the twentieth century. From the 1950s onward, Robert Finck’s name appears regularly in the provenance histories of Dutch and Flemish paintings. The gallery remained active for several decades and focused particularly on paintings from the fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries.[1]
Its trading profile was distinctly international. Paintings handled by Finck later appeared with dealers and collectors in London, Germany and the United States, among other places. Museums also purchased works directly from the gallery. In 1963, for example, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium acquired the important fifteenth-century Triptych of Jan de Witte from Galerie Robert Finck.[2]
Old Masters and exhibitions
An important characteristic of Galerie Robert Finck was its combination of art dealing and art-historical presentation. The firm regularly organized exhibitions of Flemish and Dutch masters and published illustrated catalogues to accompany them.
Titles such as Exposition de tableaux de maîtres flamands du XVe au XIXe siècle and Exposition de tableaux de maîtres du XVe au XVIIIe siècle illustrate the breadth of the gallery’s offerings. Library and exhibition records show that such exhibitions were organized over many years.[3]
A particular highlight was the 1969 exhibition of thirty-three paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Younger from Belgian private collections. The exhibition was frequently cited in later auction and art-historical literature. In the same year, Georges Marlier’s extensive monograph Pierre Brueghel le Jeune was published by Éditions Robert Finck. The gallery therefore played not only a commercial role, but also an art-historical one in the study of this painter.[4]
Flemish and Dutch painting
Finck’s stock included artists who remain among the most important names in the market for Flemish Old Masters. In addition to Pieter Brueghel the Younger, works by Roelant Savery and artists from the circle of Sebastiaen Vrancx are particularly well documented.
A landscape by Roelant Savery, for example, was with Galerie Robert Finck by September 1964 at the latest and was included that year in the exhibition Exposition de tableaux de maîtres flamands du XVe au XVIIIe siècle. The work was later also included in Savery’s catalogue raisonné.[5]
A complete series of The Four Seasons from the studio of Sebastiaen Vrancx was likewise with Finck in 1958. The four panels were purchased directly from the gallery that year and subsequently remained in the same private collection for several decades.[6]
It is precisely such documented provenances that demonstrate the level at which the gallery operated. Finck dealt not only in decorative Old Master paintings, but also in works that were published, exhibited and later entered important collections.
More than Old Masters
Although the gallery is primarily associated with Old Masters, its trading and exhibition programme was broader. Modern Belgian painting also received considerable attention. In 1961 and 1962, Finck organized exhibitions that included works by artists such as René Magritte and Paul Delvaux. In 1969, the gallery also held an exhibition of modern Belgian painting in which James Ensor was represented.[7]
Robert Finck also participated in international art and antiques fairs. For the Florentine antiques fair at Palazzo Strozzi in 1969, for example, a separate catalogue was published in which Robert Finck presented 91 paintings.[8]
The name Galerie Robert Finck now appears regularly in catalogues raisonnés, museum documentation, historical exhibition catalogues and auction provenance records. This makes the firm particularly relevant to research into paintings traded in Belgium during the second half of the twentieth century.
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Footnotes
[1] See, among other sources, Sotheby’s provenance records for works mentioning Galerie Robert Finck, Brussels, from 1953 onward; Rijksmuseum Research Library, Galerie Robert Finck, La Galerie Robert Finck présente sa collection de tableaux anciens, Brussels, 1979.
[2] Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Master of 1473, Triptych of Jan de Witte; provenance: acquired from Galerie Robert Finck, Brussels, 1963.
[3] RKD Research Library and French museum catalogues, exhibition catalogues of Galerie Robert Finck, including Exposition de tableaux de maîtres du XVe au XVIIIe siècle, 1969–1970.
[4] Galerie Robert Finck, Trente-trois tableaux de Pierre Brueghel le Jeune dans les collections privées belges, Brussels, 1969; Georges Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, Brussels: Éditions Robert Finck, 1969.
[5] Galerie Robert Finck, Exposition de tableaux de maîtres flamands du XVe au XVIIIe siècle, Brussels, 1964, cat. no. 35; K.J. Müllenmeister, Roelant Savery. Die Gemälde mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog, Freren, 1988.
[6] Christie’s, Studio of Sebastiaen Vrancx, The Four Seasons; provenance: Galerie Robert Finck, Brussels, 1958.
[7] Galerie Robert Finck, Exposition de peinture belge moderne and Exposition de peinture belge moderne: de Jacob Smits à Roger Dudant, Brussels, 1961–1962 and 1969; see also the catalogue raisonné and exhibition records for René Magritte, Paul Delvaux and James Ensor.
[8] Robert Finck, catalogue for the Mostra Mercato Internazionale dell’Antiquariato, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 1969; see also RKD provenance records concerning Finck’s participation in the Florentine fair in 1967.