OUR FOCUS
Robert Simon Fine Art is dedicated to introducing the great art of the past to new audiences, as well as to providing distinguished works to collectors and institutions worldwide. The gallery was born out of Robert’s expertise in Italian painting, although his and the gallery’s interests have since expanded to include the breadth of European painting and sculpture from the Renaissance to the Nineteenth Century. As broad as these interests are, connoisseurship underlies them all and has resulted in a remarkable series of discoveries of major pictures by artists as diverse as Pintoricchio, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Vittore Carpaccio, Parmigianino, Guido Reni, Salvator Rosa, Paolo Uccello, and, notably, Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi. Additionally, he has led collector interest in the fields of female Old Master painters and Spanish Colonial art, having brought to light and placed important works in both areas. Significant paintings, drawings, and sculpture from the gallery are to be found in major American museums, as well as in private collections across the globe.
Scholarship at the highest level informs all the works presented by RSFA, with rigorous attention paid to condition, provenance, and, of course, authorship. Joined by Gallery Director Dominic Ferrante, Robert Simon is devoted to making the at-times daunting issues involved with collecting Old Masters understandable and accessible, as well as to deepening our understanding of the historical, social, and cultural meaning of the works of art that make the field so rewarding. The gallery is located steps away from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which features many of the same artists as does Robert Simon Fine Art, although those are generally not available for purchase.
ROBERT SIMON
PRESIDENT
Robert B. Simon established his gallery in 1997 following fifteen years working as an art appraiser, researcher, and consultant for Old Master painting dealers and private collectors. His academic specialty is Florentine painting of the sixteenth century; he received his doctorate in art history from Columbia University and wrote his doctoral thesis on Bronzino’s portraits of Cosimo I de’ Medici. He has published and lectured on both art-historical matters and on broader concerns relating to the authenticity, valuation, conservation, and commercial trade of works of art, and has held leadership roles in the Appraisers Association of America, the Art and Antique Dealers League of America, and the Private Art Dealers Association. Most recently, he co-authored Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi & The Collecting of Leonardo in the Stuart Courts, published by Oxford University Press.
Email: rbs@robertsimon.com
DOMINIC FERRANTE
DIRECTOR
Dominic Ferrante earned his BA from Harvard University in the History and Literature of Early Modern Italy. As an undergraduate, he interned at the Frick Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Harvard Art Museums, and Villa I Tatti. Following his undergraduate studies, he was a research fellow in art history at the Universität Hamburg and subsequently worked as a researcher in the Old Master Paintings department at Christie’s New York. He completed his master’s degree in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute in London, graduating with Distinction. He wrote his dissertation on the Sienese painter Duccio di Buoninsegna, and was awarded The Courtauld Prize for Best Dissertation.
Email: dfj@robertsimon.com
BETTINA JACKSON CANTADOR
GALLERY MANAGER
Bettina Jackson Cantador graduated from the University of Georgia with a BA in the History of Art and French. Following her undergraduate studies, she was a library fellow in decorative arts at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC and subsequently worked at The High Museum in Atlanta, GA. She completed her master's degree in Arts Administration and Non-profit Management from Savannah College of Art and Design during which time she wrote an art collection management policy for the Shepherd Center and catalogued their holdings.
Most recently, she completed her second master's degree in the History of Art at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU. Her thesis focused on the Italian painter Luca Giordano's activity at the court of Charles II in Madrid.
Email: bjc@robertsimon.com