The best art dealers in Britain, as chosen by the nation's top designers, architects and creative minds

Charlie Porter, the former journalist who founded online antique and vintage dealer Tat London, recommended as being 'great for interesting 20th-century oils that won’t break the bank'.

(Image credit: Simon Brown for Country Life / Future)

By Giles Kime

published 24 July 2025

in Features

This is the fourth part of our series on the experts' experts, in which we spoke to two dozen members of the Country Life Top 100 about the artisans, dealers and writers whose work and wisdom have played a huge part in their careers. The previous instalments saw them name the greatest craftspeople working in Britain, the best design books and the best antique dealers in the country.

Portland Gallery, London SW1 (www.portlandgallery.com), represents the most talented range of artists and I enjoy collecting pictures from there.
Butter Wakefield

Thackeray Gallery, London W8 (www.thackeraygallery.com), has an individual collection of works by living British artists, more affordable than most, curated by enthusiastic owner Sarah Macdonald-Brown. I always want to find a little space to house another work by one of her artists.
Kit Kemp

There are horses for courses, but — for someone who understands the balance between domesticity and connoisseurship — I admire Jenna Burlingham in Hampshire (www.jennaburlingham.com). She shows great examples of established artists on well-chosen background colours.
Edward Bulmer

Jenna Burlingham’s gallery in Kingsclere

Josh Lilley in London W1 (www.joshlilley.com) represents two of my favourite contemporary artists: Nick Goss and Gareth Cadwallader. For something more affordable, I love prints and paintings by artist Gianni Notarianni (www.gianninotarianni.com).
Tom Turner

I always stop in to see what’s on show at Piano Nobile, London W11 (www.piano-nobile.com), a gallery specialising in 20th-century British art.
Mungo Adam-Smith, Ian Adam-Smith Architects

More a gallery than a dealer, Hauser & Wirth in Bruton, Somerset (www.hauserwirth.com), is always inspirational.
Tom Balch, Rose of Jericho

Local antique shops and art galleries near our studio in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, are a constant source of inspiration. My latest purchase is from Trilogie Antiques (@trilogieantiques) — a lovely Victorian portrait in a primitive style that is full of charm.
Sean Symington

Josh Darby from Browse & Darby, London SW1 (www.browseanddarby.co.uk), specialises in British and French paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture.
Craftspeople

The team at the post-war and contemporary gallery Lyndsey Ingram, London W1 (www.lyndseyingram.com), has a brilliantly collaborative approach, finding some very special pieces for our projects.
Isabella Worsley

Jenna Burlingham (www.jennaburlingham.com) has wonderful art.
Libby Russell, Mazzullo + Russell

Philip Mould (www.philipmould.com) for his work promoting and popularising Cedric Morris’s flower paintings, doing so much to bring them to the greater attention they deserve.
Rupert Golby

Painting of flowers — Plants and the Shrake Pot by Cedric Morris, displayed at Philip Mould and Company.

Damian Delahunty in London W1 (www.delahuntyfineart.com) is an expert in contemporary art.
Christopher Lawler, Johnston Cave

Art consultant Rebecca Gordon (www.rebeccagordonart.co.uk) familiarises herself with the projects she works on, spends time understanding her clients’ tastes and brief and then joyfully helps them build a collection.
Bunny Turner, Turner Pocock

There is always something beautiful to be found at Daniel Katz Gallery in London W1 (www.katz.art), which is known for offering works of art from antiquity to the 20th century.
Guy Oliver, Oliver Laws

The owners of La Galerie Cotignac (www.lagaleriecotignac.com) in Provence, France, have a great eye for decorative and affordable art. London-based Guy Morrison (www.guymorrison.com) is a fine-art dealer and agent who buys and sells privately for you.
Angela Collins, Angela Collins Garden Design

Georgia Stoneman in Somerset (www.georgiastoneman.com) is wonderful for modern and contemporary British pictures and sculpture, and Charlie Porter at Tat London (www.tat-london.co.uk), is great for interesting 20th-century oils that won’t break the bank.
Rupert Cunningham, Ben Pentreath Studio

Willoughby Gerrish, London W1 (www.willoughbygerrish.com), has an amazing mix of 20th-century British and more traditional art. London-based Cramer & Bell (www.cramerandbell.com) specialises in sourcing art, always finding incredible pieces.
James Thurstan Waterworth, Thurstan

Giles Kime is Country Life's Executive and Interiors Editor, an expert in interior design with decades of experience since starting his career at The World of Interiors magazine. Giles joined Country Life in 2016, introducing new weekly interiors features, bridging the gap between our coverage of architecture and gardening. He previously launched a design section in The Telegraph and spent over a decade at Homes & Gardens magazine (launched by Country Life's founder Edward Hudson in 1919). A regular host of events at London Craft Week, Focus, Decorex and the V&A, he has interviewed leading design figures, including Kit Kemp, Tricia Guild, Mary Fox Linton, Chester Jones, Barbara Barry and Lord Snowdon. He has written a number of books on interior design, property and wine, the most recent of which is on the legendary interior designer Nina Campbell who last year celebrated her fiftieth year in business. This Autumn sees the publication of his book on the work of the interior designer, Emma Sims-Hilditch. He has also written widely on wine and at 26, was the youngest ever editor of Decanter Magazine. Having spent ten years restoring an Arts & Crafts house on the banks of the Itchen, he and his wife, Kate, are breathing life into a 16th-century cottage near Alresford that has remained untouched for almost half a century.