L'Antiquaire & the Connoisseur, Inc.

The Connoisseur Inc. was established in 1935 by Countess Ruth Costantino, the first female fine art dealer in the United States. She helped popularize eighteenth century French decorative arts in the U.S. and helped form some of the great twentieth century private collections of French furniture. She advised such clients as Madame Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan, Mrs. Ailsa Mellon Bruce, Mrs. Henry Ford II, Mr. Stavros Niarchos, Mrs. John D. Rockefeller II, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, and Mrs. Robert R. Young. During the Kennedy administration, Madame Costantino was the White House´s principal purveyor of French eighteenth century furniture. The gallery also sold fine and decorative arts to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Art Museum in Cincinnati, the County Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Uffizi in Florence and the Brera Museum in Milan.

Helen Fioratti founded L´Antiquaire in 1965 and expanded the gallery´s holdings to include pre-eighteenth century European fine and decorative arts. Mrs. Fioratti has assisted a new generation of collectors.

L´Antiquaire merged with the Connoisseur in 1982 and deals in all varieties of decorative arts and antiques from Byzantine mosaics to Italian and French eighteenth century furniture and Old Master drawings. The gallery has exhibited at many international fine and decorative art fairs, including Palazzo Albergati in Bologna, Biennale Antiquariato in Florence, Grosvenor House in London, TEFAF Maastricht, TEFAF Basel, Monte Carlo, The Milano International Fine Art & Antiques Show, Winter Antiques Show in New York, The Connoisseur´s Antique Show in New York, Antiques Chicago, the Fall Antiques Show San Francisco, and the Palm Beach International Fine Art & Antique Fair.