François Pinault is a French billionaire businessman, founder of the luxury group Kering and the investment holding company Artémis.
Pinault in 2015
François Pinault and his son François-Henri in 2016.
Palazzo Grassi, Venice.
Punta della Dogana, Venice.
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Amsterdam, Geneva, Shanghai, and Dubai. It is owned by Groupe Artémis, the holding company of François Pinault. In 2022 Christie's sold US$8.4 billion in art and luxury goods, an all-time high for any auction house. On 15 November 2017, the Salvator Mundi was sold at Christie's in New York for $450 million to Saudi Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud, the highest price ever paid for a painting.
Christie's in King Street, St James's
Christie's American branch at Rockefeller Center in New York
In A Peep at Christies (1799), James Gillray caricatured actress Elizabeth Farren and huntsman Lord Derby examining paintings appropriate to their tastes and heights.
The Microcosm of London (1808), an engraving of Christie's auction room