we are hiring!
With our recent expansion, we are eager to add another face to our team on a part-time basis. If you would be interested in the following role, please email your CV and a covering letter about why this is the role to you to enquiries@darnleyfineart.com
GALLERY ASSISTANT (PART-TIME)
Working three days per week as part of the administration and sales team, this role is essential to the smooth running of the gallery and supports administration, client relations, and logistics. The role reports directly to the Gallery Director.
Hours: 3 days Monday–Saturday, 9:30am–5:30pm (flexibility required with occasional weekend work)
Location: Covent Garden, London
Salary: London Living Wage (0.6 FTE)
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Oversee registrar and logistics duties, including maintaining the artwork database, coordinating national and international shipments, and preparing import/export and customs documentation
- Support the Gallery Director with the planning, coordination and delivery of exhibitions and art fairs
- Research new artworks and produce engaging, accurate written content for records, clients and publications
- Create and edit gallery marketing content, including website copy, newsletters, social media and press materials
- Ensure all new artworks are photographed, catalogued and uploaded to the gallery website and approved sales platforms
- Manage day-to-day gallery operations, including ordering materials and maintaining presentation standards
- Provide a warm and professional welcome to visitors, confidently sharing knowledge about artists and works
- Build and maintain strong relationships with collectors, clients and partners
REQUIREMENTS
Essential:
- Excellent organisational skills with meticulous attention to detail
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- High level of computer literacy
- Proficiency in Adobe Photoshop
- Experience managing social media, newsletters (Mailchimp/Brevo) and website content
Desired:
- Degree in Art History
The Winter Decorative Fair - January 2026
To ring in the New Year, Darnley Fine Art will be attending the Winter Decorative Fair. The Fair will run from the 20th to the 25th of January at Evolution in Battersea Park, London. As usual, you can find us on stand F09, on your right near the entrance to the main atrium. If you require more information for this event, please get in contact with us.
Impressions of Life: An Exhibition of Post-Impressionists Robert Deborne and Henri Ottmann
To coincide with the opening of Darnley Fine Art's new premises, the gallery is pleased to announce an upcoming exhibition of the Impressionist artists Robert Deborne and Henri Ottmann. This dialogic exhibition will explore the way that both artists applied an Impressionist perspective to their distinct subject matters, and how this renders them as representatives of the artistic movement that flourished in 19th century France.
Both Deborne and Ottmann have been largely forgotten in the existing art historical canon of Impressionism, a seemingly glaring omission. Deborne’s vibrant landscapes explode with colour and layers of thick impasto, whilst Ottmann’s still life works exemplify the fleeting and mundane aspects of life that the movement sought to immortalise.
Displaying these works together will highlight the sheer range of the Impressionist movement, and the skill of the artists that aligned themselves with its techniques and intentions. These works will be available to purchase, providing visitors with a unique opportunity to own an artwork from a movement that was a turning point in the development of modern art.
No. 2 and 4 Cecil Court!
For almost seven years, Darnley Fine Art has called Cecil Court home - it is with great pleasure and great pride for this wonderful street that we are able to announce our expansion to a double-fronted gallery space, located only two doors down from our former location.
Opening officially at the end of the year, this new gallery space will be located over two floors and two premises, providing us with significantly more wall space to display our vast array of over 900 works. The additional four rooms will be themed around the gallery’s artistic specialisms, and offer us the fantastic opportunity to host bigger and better selling exhibitions.
Country Lanes & The Plain: An Exhibition of Eric Brown's Landscapes of Interwar Salisbury
Darnley Fine Art is pleased to announce an upcoming exhibition for the works of unsung hero of English landscape painting: Eric Brown. This exhibition will be the first ever to display Brown’s wonderfully nostalgic rural scenes that were inspired by the rolling hills and country lanes of Salisbury and its surroundings.
As with the Salisbury-focused works of Constable and Turner, Brown’s landscapes convey a deep appreciation for the unique countryside of Salisbury and Wiltshire. His adoration is readily apparent through how he renders aspects of idyllic country life with blocky pastel colours and hazy brushstrokes that create a sense of nostalgia for the English countryside in the interwar years.
Exhibition highlights include distinctly recognisable scenes of Salisbury, such as View of Salisbury from Old Sarum and Salisbury Cathedral, but also include more universal rural views that pay homage to the pastoral, such as Sutton Mandeville Churchyard and Country Lane.
Lost Portrait of Shakespeare's First Patron Discovered
Darnley Fine Art is excited to announce the recent acquisition of a previously lost portrait of Ferdinando Stanley, the 5th Earl of Derby (1559-64) .
Also known as Lord Strange, Ferdinando was a crucial figure during the Elizabethan era as both a member of Parliament and an ardent patron of celebrated writers including Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, and William Shakespeare. It is believed that Shakespeare was employed as one of Lord Strange's men, a group of acrobats and tumblers who showcased their talents at The Theatre in Shoreditch, England’s first ever permanent theatre. Following the death of his father in 1593, Ferdinando succeeded as the Earl of Derby. Consequently, his arts group was renamed Derby’s Men. It is widely believed that Shakespeare was part of this group as both a playwright and as an actor, with Ferdinando’s patronage being crucial during the early days of his blossoming literary career.
Ferdinando had potential claims to the English throne, as he was a descendent of king Henry VII and had a place in the line of succession to Elizabeth I according to the will of Henry VIII. However, his aspirations were cut short by his untimely death under suspicious circumstances. There were fears of Catholic uprising at the time, and it was rumoured that Ferdinando was poisoned.
In the words of Adrian Pett, the Director of Darnley Fine Art: “This portrait presents us with the unique opportunity to lock eyes with one of the most influential cultural figures in British history.”
This discovery has also been featured on the British Art Journal's website, a link to which can be found below.
DARNLEY FINE ART FEATURES IN COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE AND ATG
In June our ‘Possible Portrait of Shakespeare’ featured in articles in both The Antiques Trade Gazette and Country Life Magazine. Created during the 16th century and believed to depict the famous playwright, this wonderful Elizabethan painting shows a middle-aged Shakespeare with an elaborate collar, small bear and a direct gaze.
For more information about the work and and the fascinating similarities that it holds to the Chandos portrait please click here.