Paul Raison is a leading world specialist in the field of

Old Master In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...

paintings. He was for many years a Chairman of the auction house

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

Early life and education

The grandson of English cricketer and ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...

'' founder

Max Raison Maxwell Raison (7 November 1901 – 26 July 1988) was an English cricketer and publisher. Raison was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace. He also co-founded the ''New Scientist''. He was born at Wanstead, Essex and educate ...

, and the son of Thatcher-era

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

minister The Right Hon. Sir Timothy Raison, Paul Raison was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

Peterhouse Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, where he took an M.A. Honours degree in French, Italian and the History of Art.

Career

Raison joined Christie’s in 1987 as a graduate trainee in the Chinese, Silver and Old Masters departments. In 1988 he attained the rank of Specialist in the Old Masters Department, then under the leadership of

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

expert Gregory Martin. Raison became Head of the Old Masters Department in Paris in 1993 and was based in France until 1996, when he moved back to the UK to assume the same role at Christie's London. In 2004, he and his New York counterpart Anthony Crichton-Stuart played an instrumental role in the acquisition of the Hall and Knight galleries by Christie's. Raison was appointed Deputy Chairman of Christie's in 2012, and International Co-Chairman in 2016. Raison led the sale of Old Master Pictures in London in December 2000, which realised a total of £56.7 million, "the highest for a sale in this category at the time". In 2004, he led the

private treaty Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

sale of

Duccio Duccio di Buoninsegna ( , ; – ), commonly known as just Duccio, was an Italian painter active in Siena, Tuscany, in the late 13th and early 14th century. He was hired throughout his life to complete many important works in government and religi ...

’s Stroganoff Madonna to the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

in New York City for a record sum, then the highest price ever paid by the Met for any purchase, the second highest price ever paid for an Old Master privately and the most expensive Old Master ever sold by Christie's, breaking the record held since 1989 by the

Pontormo Jacopo Carucci or Carrucci (; May 24, 1494 – January 2, 1557), usually known as Jacopo (da) Pontormo or simply Pontormo (), was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine School. His work represents a profound stylisti ...

Halberdier. He oversaw the Old Masters auction in December 2009, which realised £68.4 million, establishing a new highest total for a sale of Old Masters and setting artist records for

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

and

Domenichino Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters. Life Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a shoe ...

. In July 2016, Raison was responsible for the rediscovery, attribution and sale of

’s Lot and his Daughters, The Rubens is now on loan to the

. Raison has advised collectors and institutions in Europe, North and South America, South Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He is known for his expertise in French and Spanish art and collections, where his activity has included, respectively, the discovery of a lifetime portrait of

Anton Fugger Anton Fugger (10 June 1493 – 14 September 1560) was a German merchant, banker, and member of the Fugger family. He was a nephew of Jakob Fugger. Biography Anton was the third and youngest son of George Fugger and Regina Imhof. He was born in ...

, acquired in 2002 by the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

, and of an early work by

El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...

, acquired from Christie's by the

Historical Museum of Crete The Historical Museum of Crete is a museum in Heraklion, Crete. It was founded by the Society of Cretan Historical Studies in 1953 and was originally housed in the former home of Minos Kalokairinos. The museum has since been expanded with a m ...

in the artist's birthplace of

Heraklion Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...

, still one of the only autograph works by

in any public or private collection in Greece. He regularly lectures on Old Masters in Asia. In 2020, Raison left Christie's to set up his own consultancy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raison, Paul English art historians Christie's people Living people 20th-century births People educated at Eton College Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...