I note that Moretti Fine Art have their fifth
exhibition of Italian Old Masters at their gallery on East 80th
Street in New York until May 25, but then I see they move ‘Seicento Fiorentino:
Sacred and Profane Allegories’ to their St. James’s gallery in Ryder Street for
another airing from June 20 to July 30, to coincide with Master Paintings Week
in London.
While the quality of the exhibition itself,
with important works by Ottavio Vannini and Lorenzo Lippi,has been much reported what struck me is just
how these international galleries cope with the very logistics and headaches of
running such a business. They are not corporations.
I mention elsewhere this week that Larry
Gagosian has 11 galleries worldwide (and I am sure the one in Athens must be
giving him headaches at the moment) but 36–year-old Fabrizio Moretti himself heads
galleries in New York, London and his native Florence.
His father was the noted Italian antiques
dealer Alfredo Moretti so he knew the business was hard work, but I am always astonished
at the apparent ease with which many international dealers juggle so many
enterprises.
And Fabrizio Moretti still finds time to
exhibit at fairs in Paris, New York, Florence and Maastricht, where this year
he celebrated his tenth anniversary at TEFAF with an outstanding and, I am
pleased to say, profitable display of Old Masters.