Areas of Practice
Due Diligence
We offer due diligence services to private and corporate clients, art advisories, family offices, galleries and art dealers, who primarily require pre-acquisition due diligence. In-depth due diligence greatly reduces the risk in art transactions and offers reassurance to all the parties involved. Over the past 5 years we have assisted over one hundred private and institutional clients alongside other processes from insurance and appraisals, to inheritance drafting and deaccessions.
Educational Workshops
We have extensive experience in art market education. In collaboration with other scholars and academics, on provenance research, the art market, art history, the history of collecting, art crime, and cultural heritage, and the illicit antiquities trade, to list a few. Courses can be organised on a one-to-one basis or for small groups of all ages and backgrounds.
Provenance research
We regularly undertake extensive and exhaustive provenance research projects where our main purpose is to investigate ownership history, address provenance gaps and/or inconsistencies, with a specialist focus on Holocaust assets. We work closely with WWII claimants, collectors, institutions and the art trade to help them reconstruct the narratives behind their artworks while offering ethically guided solutions and advice.
Staff Trainings in Due Diligence
One of our most popular offerings, customised for financial institutions and tailored for Investment Banks, Brokerage Firms, Insurance Companies and other corporate clients, is staff training on the ecosystem of the global art market. Whether you are looking to start, liquidate, or look after an art collection, we train staff to identify immediate provenance risks and to conduct desktop due diligence.
Collections Risk assessment
We work closely with Collections Management agencies and curators to help them identify areas of risk within art collections that are directly connected to the state of documentation. We apply our in-house Collections’ Provenance Rating (CPR) tool to offer an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of a collection, and give bespoke recommendations, on a case-by-case basis. This affords the collector extra layers of protection from premature exposure.
Legacy Projects
We take great pride in working closely with Art Funds, Financial Institution and new collectors in drafting ethical collecting guidelines and upstanding internal due diligence practices, unique to their specific needs. We offer assistance during all stages of collecting and liaise with other experts to offer the most efficient and relevant assistance.
Do you have a work of art that needs researching?
Do you have a work of art that needs researching?
Dr Tom Flynn, FRSA
Tom is a UK-based art historian, valuer and appraiser and a specialist in the professional practices of the international art market, historical and contemporary sculpture, museology, and issues in art crime and cultural heritage. Tom is a graduate of the University of Sussex and the Royal College of Art. He completed his doctorate at the University of Sussex in 1998. A former journalist at The Art Newspaper, his writing has appeared in numerous international art market publications. He has held board positions with art price data company Invaluable and the contemporary print retailer Eyestorm. He was Senior Lecturer at Kingston College of Art from 2010-2017, directing the RICS-Accredited MA in Art Appraisal (Professional Practice) and has taught at Sussex University; IESA (Paris and London); Richmond, the American University in London, and is currently a visiting lecturer at Christie’s Education.
He is the author of The Body in Sculpture (1997); The A to Z of the International Art Market ( 2016); monographs on British sculptors Sean Henry (2008); Terence Coventry (2012); and Charlotte Mayer (2013); as well as numerous exhibition catalogues.
tom@flynngiovani.com
Angelina Giovani-Agha, FRSA
Angelina is an art historian and provenance researcher based in London. She has a BA in Art History from the American College of Greece and a MA in Art Appraisal from Kingston University, London. She is a graduate of ARCA, as well as of the Provenance Research Training Program (PRTP) workshops. In the past decade she has worked for the Jeu de Paume database documenting the Cultural Plunder by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), acted as Head of Provenance Research for a bespoke Family Office Art Advisory and advised with institutions on ethical collecting guidelines. She works with private collectors, museums and the art trade to address provenance issues, while simultaneously acting as an Art Business Mentor for Finito. In 2020, Angelina was appointed as a Provenance Research Specialist at CAfA - Court of Arbitration for Art, Hague and in 2022 she launched the Collections Provenance Rating, an innovative tool that assesses the state of documentation of collections and offers recommendations based on the risk level identified.
In 2023 she launched the Art Market Academy, a dedicated online environment offering online courses in provenance research and due diligence, now subtitled in over 15 languages.
angie@flynngiovani.com
Testimonials
My collaboration with Giovani has always been very successful, in several cases, during the last decade. I would definitely recommend her to anyone is interested for the most in-depth provenance research analysis on art works.
- CHristos tsirogiannis, forensic archaeologist
Angelina Giovani of Flynn & Giovani Art Provenance Research provided a half-day training session on provenance research for cultural heritage professionals in Ireland as part of a training event organised by the Heritage Council, held at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks. Her interactive, informative and practical training session was delivered with clarity, warmth and great skill, much to the delight of all those who attended. She is a natural communicator, highly expert in her subject, thorough and thoughtful in her approach. She was a great pleasure to work with when commissioning her to provide this training event. She understood the brief quickly and easily, dealt with the travel requirements and logistics very smoothly, and delivered on everything asked of her perfectly.I would whole-heartedly recommend Angelina and Flynn&Giovani to others.
- Aalia Kamal, THE HERITAGE COUNCIL, IRELAND
Our previous research collaborations with Flynn & Giovani have always been productive and fruitful. We are very satisfied with the research process and results and look forward to future collaborations.
- Roger Maibach, CEO of CONSTANCE GIRMAUD SA
Our previous research collaborations with Flynn & Giovani have always been productive and fruitful.
- Rachel Elwes, Ben Elwes Fine ARt
Over the years, my collaboration with Giovanni has been not only productive and successful but also educational. The rigour, methods applied, such as the artgcpr.com add great value to any and actual work. I highly recommend her services.
- Sonja Abracen, DIrector & co-founder one stop museum
Get in touch
Use the form or the email address listed below to contact us regarding any questions you might have or if you’d like to discuss the ownership history of your artworks. Please be as detailed as possible. To help us best service your enquiry, where relevant, please include images of the front and back of the work of art you would like to research.
For work and internship opportunities, please email us your resume. We’re always looking to expand our expand our network and add more talented researchers to our international team of over 30 consultants.