The Rafael Valls team.
What keeps the gallery coming back to TEFAF?
The gallery occasionally exhibits at other international and UK fairs but TEFAF is the only fair which we attend without fail every year, and indeed have done since the late 1970s. It is the most important European fair, particularly for Old Masters.
The calibre of artworks that the fair brings in, and the corresponding level of the buyers, cannot be beaten.
Thomas Landseer (1795-1880), A Bengal Tiger, oil on canvas, 3ft 10in x 5ft (1.17 x 1.52m), offered for a price in the region of £85,000 by Rafael Valls.
Why are international fairs such as TEFAF important in 2023?
Fairs provide a wonderful opportunity to meet other dealers and potential clients whom we might not get a chance to meet otherwise. Many fortuitous relationships are forged in the halls of the MECC every year. It also provides a time and a place to renew old relationships, which is more important than ever in the wake of the pandemic.
What are you showcasing? Is there a theme to the stand?
Our gallery will be bringing around 100 pictures from the last 500 years of painting in western and central Europe. Trompe l’Oeil have always been a speciality of ours, and we will be having a section of the stand devoted to these works.
We are particularly proud of several newly discovered pictures including a portrait of an English boy in military uniform by Henri-Pierre Danloux from the Napoleonic wars, and a Thomas Landseer painting of a snarling Bengal tiger.
