Biography
He joined Sotheby’s in 1986 as a Graduate Trainee, working initially in the British Paintings and Old Master Paintings departments. In 1994, he was appointed head of the Old Master Paintings department in London and became co-head of the International department in 2005. In addition to his responsibilities in Old Masters, Alex plays a role more generally in Sotheby’s UK and was also appointed Chairman of Sotheby’s UK and Ireland in 2023.
Alex has been closely involved in the sale of many of the most significant Old Master auctions of the last three decades, including those of the British Rail Pension Fund (1995, 1996 and 1997); the Bentinck Thyssen family (1995); the collection formed by E.W. Fattorini (1996, 1997, 2003 and 2004); Dr Gustav Rau (2008); Mrs Barbara Piasecka Johnson (2009); the Dukes of Northumberland (2014); and Castle Howard (2015). He has also taken the lead role in some of the most important private sales of Old Masters including: Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks (acquired by the National Gallery, London, 2004); Pieter Bruegel The Elder’s Wine of St Martin’s Day (acquired by the Prado, Madrid in, 2011 – a lost masterpiece rediscovered by Mr Bell and his colleague, James Macdonald, in Spain in 2006); Parmigianino’s Virgin with Child, St John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene (J. Paul Getty Museum, 2017); Orazio Gentileschi’s Finding of Moses (National Gallery, London, 2019); and Netherlandish/French c. 1510, The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret (National Gallery, London, 2025 – the highest price ever paid for an anonymous painting).
Prior to joining Sotheby’s, Alex studied at Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he gained a Masters Degree in History of Art.
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