Christie's

English fine-art saleroom, the oldest in the world, founded in 1766 by Australian-born auctioneer James Christie. The sales of paintings that the firm held during the 18th and 19th centuries were the basis for the present collections in museums worldwide, including those in Berlin, Boston, Leningrad, and London. Christie's has overseas branches internationally, and, in addition to the daily sales in London, sales are held several times a year in its branches in Geneva, Rome, Amsterdam, Sydney, and Montreal.

Another facet of Christie's work were the ‘Studio’ sales of famous artists such as Joshua Reynolds, Edwin Henry Landseer, Henry Raeburn, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones, and John Singer Sargent, and Augustus John.

James Christie was born in Perth in 1730; he became a midshipman in the Royal Navy, but resigned his commission before he was 20 and became an auctioneer in Covent Garden, London. At the age of 33 he set up on his own in modest rooms in Pall Mall, moving in 1779 to 125 Pall Mall, next door to the painter Thomas Gainsborough.