The master of old masters: Lucian Harris talks to Johnny Van Haeften: the doyen of London's Old Master dealers and a mainstay of Maastricht, Johnny Van Haeften talks about the state of the trade

Apollo, March, 2008 by Lucian Harris

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Of the small core of dealers who have exhibited at Maastricht since its modest beginnings over 30 years ago, few have been more involved in the fair's great success than Johnny Van Haeften, whose stand is the first stop for everyone interested in Dutch and Flemish Old Masters. 'Johnny has been the most important exhibitor at the fair for many years, and certainly the most active. His stands are always mobbed', says New York dealer Richard Feigen. 'He is the pre-eminent dealer in the world in his field and has a devoted following among collectors--particularly on the continent.' 'He is by far the longest-serving committee member,' adds the fair's chairman, and fellow London dealer, Ben Janssens. 'With his knowledge of what has gone before, his input is invaluable.'

At his London gallery in Duke Street, St James's, Van Haeften, tall and conservatively dressed, points out a 17th-century group portrait of his Dutch ancestors (Fig. 3): 'I was trying to buy it for years', he says. 'Finally the owner gave in and sold it to me for considerably more than its real value.' He then settles back to recall Maastricht's early years. 'We've seen some dramatic changes over the years. When it started, the fair, then called the Pictura Fine Art Fair, was only a handful of exhibitors showing paintings and works on paper. On top of that it was held in February and the weather was always awful.' By the early 1980s, the fair was showing real signs of success: There was an antiques fair down the road in Valkenburg and it seemed expedient that the two should merge, which they did in 1985.'

The Antiquairs International & Pictura Fine Art Fair, as it was known after this merger, expanded rapidly. By 1988 it had outgrown its premises in Maastricht's Eurohal and moved to its present location, the massive, new Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Centre. One of the pivotal events that catapulted Maastricht to the forefront of the fair circuit was the 1994 special exhibition Treasures from The Hermitage St Petersburg'. The response was amazing,' says Van Haeften. 'There were queues around the block and attendance figures rocketed from 25,000 to 60,000. Bringing the treasures from Russia was a logistical nightmare. They had to come overland in armoured trucks accompanied by helicopters, passing through Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany on their way to Holland.'

In more recent years Maastricht has become a victim of its own success. 'Two years ago the fair reached a critical mass when we had 85,000 visitors. It got very hot and crowded so we decided it was necessary to put up the admission price and remove the special exhibition in order to reduce casual visitors by 15%', says Van Haeften. 'The exhibitions had become a slight distraction and we needed every square inch for the stands.'

With a waiting list of around 45 galleries and few exhibitors rushing to relinquish their stands, a new initiative introduced by Janssens will give seven prospective exhibitors in seven different disciplines the chance to present small displays in the hope of impressing the committee and improving their chances of future selection. 'Johnny was very supportive of the idea, but said he didn't think we would find that many people in his field of Old Master paintings,' says Janssens. 'He was astonished to hear from me afterwards that 19 people had applied.'

Van Haeften describes how he himself got his start dealing Old Masters in the 1970s. 'I left Eton at 17 and went straight to Christie's. Then as now my great interest was in stamp collecting. At first I was on the front desk and later in the stamp department, but from the early days there I realised I had a passion for Old Masters. I think that my love of philately encouraged me to focus on detail, and learning to discriminate between various dyes and diadems stood me in good stead to be able to tell the difference between the likes of Jan Brueghel the Elder and Jan Brueghel the Younger. For 12 years I tried unsuccessfully to get into the picture department. After inheriting some money from my uncle in 1977 I started my own gallery at 180 Bond Street, selling a wide range of Old Masters.'

Five years later, Van Haeften got his chance to specialise in the Dutch and Flemish paintings to which he had become increasingly drawn. In 1982 he bought his gallery from an Iranian friend. 'We did a deal for 30,000 [pounds sterling] in the street', he says. 'I convinced my bank to back me and within two days an Italian collector bought two paintings for 50,000 [pounds sterling] and we were away.'

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'In those days Sotheby's and Christie's held sales every week and there was a plentiful supply of good works at prices that were right for the time but today seem absurdly cheap. It would not be unusual to find three or four Canaletros in a single sale', he says. 'From the early 1990s the supply of Old Masters has dwindled dramatically to the point where there are now just two sales a year in London in July and December. Of course there are also sales in New York, Paris and Amsterdam, but the main market for Old Masters is still in London.'