Who we are
Fine Art Commissions is dedicated to providing a helpful, informative and, above all, personal service and we are on hand at every stage of the process. Our combined knowledge and experience ensures that we are best placed to assist with whatever is needed for your bespoke work of art.
Sara Stewart
Founder & Managing Director
Sara established Fine Art Commissions in 1997. She responded to the market demand for a figurative agency after working with contemporary artists while a director of the Malcolm Innes Gallery, St James’s.
The agency moved to a ground floor gallery in Knightsbridge and in 2003 she and Oliver Swann of The Tryon Swann Gallery founded the Arndean Gallery in Cork Street. Used as a temporary exhibition space available for artists without representation, the ascent of Fine Art Commissions meant the gallery was used as an additional exhibition space to support our artists. From an office above the tube line in Walton Street, to our home at 19 Ryder Street, via Bury and then Duke Street, Fine Art Commissions has succeeded in ensuring portrait commissions remain firmly in fashion.
Six months after founding FAC, Sara unearthed press cuttings about a portrait commissioning agency established by Lady Cochrane who owned a contemporary gallery in Knightsbridge in the 1930s. It was a novel idea, which opened to press acclaim. The next time the press showed an interest in a private commissioning agency was when Fine Art Commissions was founded over seventy years later. Sara had been aware of the existence of the Knightsbridge gallery, but not the portrait agency. Hilda Cochrane was her grandmother.
“I meet so many fascinating artists and clients and have had the greatest of fun over the last 28 years. I look forward to continuing to provide dozens of talented people with interesting faces to paint and stories to hear.”
Romy Lagesse
Associate Director, London
Romy joined Fine Art Commissions in the Autumn of 2024. Originally from Mauritius, she came to the UK in 2018 to pursue her tertiary education, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Politics from the University of Exeter before being accepted onto the Royal College of Art’s Master’s programme in Curating Contemporary Art, graduating in 2023. She has since gone on to undertake a second Master’s degree in Art Business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Prior to joining Fine Art Commissions, Romy honed her skills working closely with a London-based portrait artist and contributed to a range of exhibitions and curatorial projects.
“I am confident that my background in humanities, combined with curatorial expertise and hands-on studio experience, can bring a thoughtful, dynamic perspective to the Fine Art Commissions team.”
We love the portrait…The whole process has been so enjoyable and easy and we have you all to thank for that.
Sunningdale School
Get in touch
Fine Art Commissions has two spaces. Our London Gallery is located on Ryder Street, St James’s, in the heart of the London art world. Just up the road from Christie’s, nestled amongst a number of established art institutions, our gallery is well worth a visit. Our second studio space is located in the hugely popular village of Ham, in Wiltshire, just four miles west of the antique hub of Hungerford.
