Acquisitions
Sourcing, assessing and negotiating works, with our client’s interest alone in view.
OUR APPROACHLONDON
Private Client Art Advisory
Independent, service-led advice for private collectors since 2013.
Since 2013, Vitruvian has advised private collectors, family offices, foundations and trusts on significant acquisitions and sales, and on the future of their collections. We work closely with auction houses, galleries and dealers, but when we act for you, we act for, and are paid by, you alone. We bring four generations of art dealing and a career in art law to every matter, and each is led personally from the first conversation to completion. We act at auction, through galleries, by private treaty through auction houses and directly with owners, including placements with museums and foundations.
Private sales
Discreet private sales to collectors and museums, from mandate to completion.
OUR APPROACHDue diligence
Authenticity, attribution, provenance and title, checked before every acquisition and sale. A work should come to us with its material in order; where it does not, this is a separate engagement.
OUR APPROACHCollections
Stewardship, succession, gifting and museum placement.
OUR APPROACHOne client in every transaction.
We act solely for the client who instructs us. A transaction may involve owners, lawyers, family offices, auction houses, galleries and institutions. We may coordinate many parties. We represent one.
OUR PRINCIPLES
Four generations. A wider perspective.
Jessica Franses has advised clients on the acquisition and sale of art since 2013. A fourth-generation art dealer, she also brings nearly twenty years at the Bar, latterly in art law. She works alongside her fellow director, Malcolm Taylor, and the firm’s legal adviser, Simon Harding, with specialist art consultants selected by her for each project.
Jessica’s experience spans major works and private collections across periods and cultures. She has led specialist teams in presenting museum-quality collections and artworks to major museums.
Vitruvian advises on the acquisition and sale of significant works, from Impressionist and Modern to Post-War and Contemporary, alongside important Old Masters.
OUR STORYInsights
Notes on the private market, for collectors and their advisers.
