Colnaghi, one of the world's oldest surviving art dealerships, will open a space in Riyadh, following a deal struck with the Saudi private equity firm Sarat Investment Holding, worth 10m Saudi riyals (around £2m).
Founded in 1760, and based in London since the late 18th century, Colnaghi is one of the world's most prominent galleries dealing in Old Masters, antiquities and pre-20th century art. The forthcoming Riyadh gallery marks the first instance of an Old Master gallery staking a claim in the Saudi market. This will be the fourth outpost for the gallery, which also has locations in New York and Madrid.
The move comes as something of a surprise: there are few prominent collectors of Western Old Masters in Saudi Arabia; most sales initiatives within the kingdom have been oriented towards Modern and contemporary art, both regional and international. Sotheby’s maiden Saudi sale in Diriyah last February concentrated on blue-chip international modern and contemporary names, such as Magritte and Picasso, as well as Arab Modernists. Similarly Bonhams’s forthcoming exhibition and event programme in Riyadh, held from 8 to 10 October, will focus on the roots of Saudi Modernism.
However, Islamic art and artefacts are a major area of interest for the region's collectors, and Colnaghi is expected to begin selling in that field, according to a local source.
Salvator Mundi museum
Among the small handful of local collectors of pre-20th century European painting are the Saudi billionaire Nasser Al Rashid, who put together the famous Najd Collection of Orientalist work in the 1970s and 80s, offering it for sale in a series of auctions at Sotheby’s in 2019.
Most prominently, Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi was bought for $450m at Christie’s in New York in 2017, by Prince Badr bin Farhan Al Saud on behalf of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. That painting, which has not been seen publicly since, is understood to be destined for a museum being built in Riyadh for its display, for which the Ministry of Culture is likely buying other Old Masters. The opening of Colnaghi Riyadh, which was announced this week by the Ministry of Culture (MOC), buttresses that assumption, though ultimately the Salvator Mundi's eventual home remains a mystery.
Colnaghi Riyadh was announced following Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Investment Conference (29-30 September), which brought high-wattage cultural figures, including the former UK culture minister Ed Vaizey, Art Basel's chief executive Noah Horowitz, and Guillaume Cerutti, the president of the Pinault Collection, to Riyadh for two days of public discussions.
Other announcements from the conference are that the MOC will work more closely with the culture and tourist site of AlUla, where development has recently slowed, as well as news about financial investments into the Saudi cultural scene. The MOC also signed a memorandum of understanding with Deutsche Bank to focus on cultural exchange and capacity development, while Audi Capital, an investment firm based in Riyadh, launched the Audi Capital MENA Art Fund, which will help enable Saudi investors to invest in art as an asset class.
