LONDON.- Following an acclaimed inaugural edition last summer, Classic Art London will take place once again from 22 June to 3 July 2026 at galleries around St. James’s, Mayfair and the central West End. The selling event focuses on Old and Modern Masters and 20th century works including drawings, paintings and sculpture, and is accompanied by an extensive talks and events programme.

Participants already confirmed for 2026 include Stephen Ongpin Fine Art, Colnaghi, Trinity Fine Art, Daniel Katz Gallery, Charles Beddington Ltd, David Messum Fine Art, Rountree Tryon, Philip Mould & Company, Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, Karen Taylor Fine Art, The Limner Company, Ben Elwes Fine Art, young London drawings dealer Alexander Clayton-Payne, Fine Art Commissions and frame specialists Paul Mitchell Ltd.

The organisers will be staging a significant talks programme – academic, historical, and entertaining - involving curators, collectors, authors and dealers, with a special day-long event at the Society of Antiquaries on Thursday 25 June. An exciting series of interactive and in-gallery events are also planned for art connoisseurs and the public. Subjects covered will include Constable at 250, Women artists, Nordic art, restitution, Tudor portraits, and how the senses are depicted in art.

Among exhibitions announced so far is Elizabeth I: Queen & Court at Philip Mould & Company, featuring truly outstanding Tudor works, including the earliest surviving life-size, full-length portraits painted during Queen Elizabeth I's lifetime, alongside some of the key figures of her reign and close circle of courtiers and confidantes.

With the rehabilitation of historic women artists continuing apace, as museums urgently grow their holdings, Karen Taylor Fine Art will show the work of British women artists from c. 1780-1920. “I am determined to increase the visibility of the numerous women artists whose work has been lost from view, due to the numerous obstacles which they have had to overcome. All too frequently their legacy was not assured.”

The 250th anniversary of the birth of John Constable will ensure a focus on this British artist and his influence during Classic Art London, including a talk; Alexander Clayton-Payne will present a group of five previously unknown drawings by Constable dating from around 1806 to 1815, and at Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, there is a special exhibition of 18th and 19th century British watercolours and drawings of landscapes and nature.

This year sees the 250th anniversary of the United States of America’s Declaration of Independence. This has prompted an engaging exhibition by Ben Elwes Fine Art looking at the cross-fertilization of art and artists during those founding years. ‘One People, Two Shores: Anglo-American Art in the Age of Revolution’ will include works by Benjamin West (1738-1820), John Singleton Copley (1738-1815), John Taylor (1735-1806), and José Francisco Xavier de Salazar y Mendoza (1750-1802).

Colnaghi will mount an exhibition exploring a period of transformation in Nordic painting spanning the late nineteenth century to the early decades of the twentieth, and another on Art & Wine.

After Sargent: Wilfrid and Jane de Glehn, and the Monod circle will be the show at David Messum Fine Art. After the death of their friend Sargent in 1925, Wilfrid de Glehn (1870-1951) and his American artist wife Jane Erin Emmet (1873-1961) continued a ‘way of seeing’ shaped by Paris training, studio discipline and the exhilaration of plein air travel. Joined by cousin Lucien Monod at Cannes, their circle moved between London, Provence and St Tropez, with American ties under-writing both freedom and fragility. This exhibition traces that network through some 100 portraits, landscapes, figure studies and still lifes, culminating in wartime rupture and the quiet persistence of late work.

Rountree Tryon and Fine Art Commissions will stage a joint exhibition focusing on figures and landscapes, with a nod to classic country house art and commissioned portraits. Whilst Stephen Ongpin Fine Art will showcase architectural, decorative, ornamental and design drawings, dating from the 16th to the 20th century.

An informative printed guide accompanies the event, with an illustrated map drawn by Adam Dant. Visitors can follow a gallery trail at their own leisure. Last year a number of local restaurants and hotels provided special offers during Classic Art London, details for 2026 will be announced soon.

Classic Art London aims to promote leading London dealers and galleries to national and international curators and collectors, championing the expertise and high calibre of dealerships the capital has long been renowned for, and to which it is still home.

Organiser Silke Lohmann explains: “Having worked on the PR for London Art Week for seven years before that event closed in 2024, we felt strongly that we wanted to organise an event that would keep London on the international art map. By working closely with the local dealers and institutions, we wanted to attract national and international visitors with a varied programme of exceptional exhibitions and engaging events and talks. Last year proved that there was huge interest in such an event and London’s central importance to the old and modern masters stage deserves our continued support.”

Co-Organiser Pippa Roberts adds: “Many of our dealers are acknowledged world authorities on diverse artists, subjects and periods, and whilst some of the auction houses might be abandoning certain specialist areas in the market, our participants are still leading the way in terms of research and expertise, which we celebrate in many ways during Classic Art London.”