About

As London’s oldest art gallery, the history of Gladwell & Patterson spans more than two and a half centuries. Across successive incarnations, the company has endured the upheavals of war, held Royal Warrants and counted Vincent van Gogh among its closest personal connections.

The gallery’s origins lie with Gladwell & Company, founded in 1746 by John Boydell, later Lord Mayor of London. Boydell established the business as a publisher and commissioner of fine prints, working with leading artists of the day and producing engravings after Reynolds, Romney and their contemporaries. Expansion was swift. Paintings, watercolours and a wide range of printmaking soon featured alongside published works, positioning the firm at the centre of London’s artistic and commercial life.

Ownership and stewardship of the business passed through a series of influential figures, including two Lord Mayors of London, the engraver Robert Graves and Sir Francis Moon, a key advocate for public access to art who played a formative role in the establishment of the National Gallery. The firm’s standing was further affirmed through successive Royal Warrants granted by Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, King George V and Queen Mary, recognising its work as printmakers, publishers and art dealers.

During the nineteenth century, Thomas Henry Gladwell oversaw the business, which combined the roles of printer, stationer, engraver and framer. On his death, the firm passed to his sons, Henry William and Alfred Thomas Gladwell, who traded as Gladwell Brothers until the partnership was dissolved towards the end of the century.

It was Henry William’s son, Harry Gladwell, who forged one of the most remarkable personal relationships in the gallery’s history. While working in Paris, Harry befriended a young Dutch artist employed by Goupil & Cie. Vincent van Gogh and Harry Gladwell became close companions, sharing lodgings in Montmartre and exchanging ideas on art, faith and family. Their friendship is documented in van Gogh’s correspondence with his brother Theo, where Harry is described affectionately as “my worthy Englishman”.

Vincent later visited the Gladwell family in England, calling at the gallery and their home during a period of personal tragedy. In letters written in 1876, van Gogh spoke movingly of his closeness to the family, describing their lives and work as inseparable from his own. The friendship endured for many years, forming one of the most intimate personal links between a major artist and a London art dealership.

Harry and Vincent were to become firm friends. They shared an apartment in Montmartre, where van Gogh delighted in Harry’s appetite for food and in turn guided the young Londoner on matters of family, art and religion. Vincent grew to love the French bread Harry raved about; Harry began to collect prints advised by Vincent. “My worthy Englishman” as van Gogh called the heir to Gladwell and Company was to replace Vincent at Goupils and in correspondence between Vincent and his beloved brother Theo (as detailed in The Letters of Vincent van Gogh, Penguin Classics) the artist describes how Harry was to enter his father’s business.

Vincent later visited the Gladwell family in England, calling at the gallery and their home during a period of personal tragedy. In letters written in 1876, van Gogh spoke movingly of his closeness to the family, describing their lives and work as inseparable from his own. The friendship endured for many years, forming one of the most intimate personal links between a major artist and a London art dealership.

Through the twentieth century, the gallery occupied some of London’s most distinguished addresses, including Pall Mall and Regent Street, before establishing itself in 1932 at Queen Victoria Street in the City, known as 'Gladwell’s Corner', within sight of St Paul’s Cathedral. Here, the gallery dealt in figurative and landscape painting, united by a consistent emphasis on quality and connoisseurship.

In 1927 the business became closely associated with the Fuller family, who continue to lead it today. Three generations have worked within the company. Anthony Fuller, whose father acquired the gallery, assumed leadership in 1980 and has guided its development for more than four decades, joined by his children Glenn and Cory, each contributing to the gallery’s evolving programme and scholarly direction.

During the Second World War, the gallery endured extraordinary disruption. Its windows were blown out on twenty-seven occasions during the Blitz. Each morning, paintings lay scattered across the pavement, yet none were stolen. The greatest loss of that period was the destruction of the archive of van Gogh’s letters to Harry Gladwell, though their contents had fortunately already been recorded.

In 2004, the Fuller family acquired the historic firm of W.H. Patterson Fine Arts at Albemarle Street, bringing together two long-established traditions under one name. In 2012, after more than a century, the Queen Victoria Street gallery closed, and operations were consolidated in Knightsbridge, trading as Gladwell & Patterson.

From Knightsbridge, the gallery strengthened its international presence, developing a sustained exhibition programme and participating in major art fairs across Europe, the United States and Asia. Alongside these outward-facing activities, the gallery continued its commitment to scholarship, mounting focused exhibitions and undertaking long-term research projects, including catalogue raisonné work on artists closely associated with its history and programme.

Between 2020 and 2024, Gladwell & Patterson welcomed clients in Oakham, Rutland, alongside a permanent sculpture trail and biannual exhibitions set within the Lincolnshire countryside. In September 2024, the gallery opened at No. 1 High Street, Stamford, presenting fine art and design within carefully considered architectural interiors.

Having now closed the Knightsbridge gallery in November 2025 after thirteen years, Gladwell & Patterson enters its next London chapter at House 50 in Burlington Arcade, Piccadilly.