The project is part of the dealership’s wider plan to engage young collectors and patrons with the world of Old Masters.
Jorge Coll and Nicolás Cortés, who run London’s Colnaghi and Coll y Cortés in their native Spain, hired Dr Nicola Jennings of the Courtauld Institute to be director of research and programming for the foundation in London.
The team will work with international researchers and experts, museums and collectors to promote pre-contemporary art and showcase how “exciting” it can be to a new generation.
The foundation plans a range of programmes such as master classes, exclusive visits, videos and publications.
It will officially launch in October when it will publish a scholarly work – David Bowie’s Tintoretto: Angel Foretelling the Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
The book focuses on the Jacopo Tintoretto altarpiece painting (above) that the late musician bought from Colnaghi in 1987.
Following his death it was sold to a European collector for a hammer price of £155,000 at Sotheby’s Bowie’s collection sale last November.
Research into the painting has now revealed an under-drawing, suggesting the work was created earlier than previously thought.
The work is on long-term loan at Antwerp’s Rubenshuis, and in conjunction with the Colnaghi Foundation, it will be shown in Venice during the 2019 Biennale.
