The Douwes tradition started with a restoration workshop as early as the 1770. Already in the fashionable Amsterdam of the second half of the 18th century, the Douwes forebears tried to meet the desire of those who wanted the beautiful ceilings of their imposing canal houses painted and restored.
These days, the firm still belongs to the same family; it was passed on from father to son for many generations. The present owners of Douwes Fine Art are in effect the seventh and eighth generation. However, according to the official regulations of the St. Lucas guild, abolished shortly after in 1808, they prefer to start counting from their entry as an independently registered business on September 5th, 1805. Now in its sixth generation of art dealing and restoring since then, this prestigious art gallery is the oldest of its kind in The Netherlands and worldwide. During more than two hundred years of art dealing, our family motto has been ‘to share the beauty of art by means of a public gallery’.

Instead of specialising in only one era or style, we endeavour to use our elaborate expertise of five centuries of painting. This allows us to offer a great variety of Dutch, Flemish, French, Russian and international works of art. Not only do we have important, rare and expensive paintings but we try to excite any young collectors as well by offering good quality art for as little as a thousand euro.

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