Independent art advisory for private estate managers — from a single considered acquisition to advice on expanding an existing collection.
Fine Art Consultancy
Estate managers are asked to deliver on a brief that is rarely written down: the right picture, in the right room, at the right price, without fuss and without a second conversation about it. We have been doing precisely that for private clients since 2001, and more than two thousand paintings have passed through our hands in that time.
Working to your brief, not to our stock
Where the right picture is in our own inventory, we will say so. Where it is at auction, with a colleague in the trade, or not yet on the market at all, we will find it, inspect it in person and buy it on your behalf. Every work we handle is researched and authenticated by our own team before it is offered, and we will tell you plainly when something is not what it is said to be. We would rather lose a sale than place a picture that causes you a problem two years later.
A single picture, or a collection
For a one-off purchase we shortlist to a handful of real candidates rather than a catalogue, and support each with a full condition report, high-resolution images and film of the picture in natural light. Where it helps, we will arrange a private viewing at the gallery so that you or your principal can judge the work in person. For an existing collection we advise on direction and balance, on what is worth keeping and what is better moved on, and on filling the gaps as they appear — and we are content to say that a collection needs nothing added.
A field that suits private houses
We specialise in nineteenth and twentieth-century European and American Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting. It is a market with real depth, well documented and properly researched, where quality is recognised internationally and holds its value. These are also pictures that live comfortably in a house rather than demanding a gallery wall, which matters when the brief is a drawing room rather than an investment portfolio.
Everything around the picture
Conservation and restoration, framing chosen for the room rather than the stockroom, insurance valuations and inventory records, crating, worldwide shipping, delivery and hanging. One point of contact throughout, and a clear account of costs before anything is committed.
Discretion is assumed. We do not discuss clients, prices or locations, and we do not use acquisitions in our own publicity without permission.
To discuss a brief, contact us directly or arrange a private viewing at the gallery in Marlow.
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Fine Art Advisory Services
The Drawing Room
Traditionally the room that received a country house’s finest paintings, the drawing room still calls for work of real quality — chosen for scale, colour and the ability to hold a room used for entertaining and daily life alike.
The Library
A country house library rarely holds only books. Fine bindings, family portraits and considered paintings share the same quiet space — chosen to complement the room rather than compete with it.
The Entrance Hall
The first room a visitor sees sets the tone for the whole house. A considered piece in the hall — or on the stairs leading from it — makes that impression before a single conversation begins.
Working with You
Most of the collections we place involve more than one advisor — an interior designer, a project manager, or your own art consultant. We are accustomed to working alongside the professionals already involved, and see our role as adding specialist knowledge to that team, not replacing it.
Professional Fine Art Sourcing
If a particular artist, period or subject is right for your collection but isn’t currently held by us, we can search on your behalf — including works not publicly listed, through contacts built over twenty-five years in the market.
How We Work
Discretion is not an afterthought for us — it is how this side of the business runs day to day.
Client names, locations and project details are never shared or used in our marketing without express permission.
Family offices, personal assistants and estate managers regularly act as our primary point of contact. We structure our process around that arrangement as a matter of course.
By named contact, encrypted email or a single point of contact within your team — whatever suits your arrangement.
Get in Touch
Whether you are sourcing a single work or planning a collection across an entire project, get in touch to discuss your requirements.
Who We Are
Leighton Fine Art holds one of the largest privately owned collections of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in the world, based in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. Every work is owned outright, authenticated and researched by our own team.
Our advisory work extends across private residences, hospitality and commercial interiors alike, guided throughout by the same standard: every painting is owned outright, authenticated and researched by our own team before it reaches a client.
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