Christie’s Auction House Founded

James Christie, a Scotland-born UK auctioneer, was the one to found Christie’s auction house on December 5th, 1766, in London, England. It started as a studio for prominent artists’ auction sales and evolved into something much bigger. Namely, after handling a number of important art auctions, such as the one where sir Robert Walpole’s painting collections were sold to Catherine the Great of Russia in 1778, Christie’s quickly established itself as a renowned auction house. That led to capitalizing on London’s newfound prominence as a major international art trade hub during the French Revolution.

Following his father’s death in 1803, James Christie II, a specialist in ancient Greek and Italian art, took over the business. It stayed as a private company until 1973 when it went public, and then it was bought by Francois Pinault, a French businessman and a mega art collector, in 1999.

In the late 1950s, they expanded from London — first was a new office in Rome in 1958; then, one in Geneva (1968) and one in Tokyo (1969). Nowadays, they have offices all over the world — from Singapore to the USA.

Christie’s is a world-leading art and luxury business with a physical presence in 46 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific, and flagship international sales hubs in New York, London, Hong Kong, Paris and Geneva.

Renowned and trusted for our expert live and online-only auctions, as well as bespoke Private Sales, Christie’s unparalleled network of specialists offers our clients a full portfolio of global services, including art appraisal, art financing, international real estate and education. Christie’s auctions span more than 80 art and luxury categories, at price points ranging from $500 to over $100 million.