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Appleton, Thomas (2 Apr.1763–28 Apr.1840), art dealer and diplomat, was born in Boston, one of seven children of Nathaniel Appleton, Jr., a merchant and candle manufacturer, and his second wife, Rachel Henderson. The sixth generation of a prominent Massachusetts family that traced its lineage to Samuel Appleton, who landed with his family in Ipswich, Essex County in ...

Avery, Samuel Putnam (17 March 1822–11 August 1904), wood engraver, art dealer, and rare book and print collector, was born in New York City, the son of Samuel Avery and Hannah Parke. His father, variously listed as a shoe maker and a leather merchant, died of cholera in 1832. Through an apprenticeship in a bank-note company, Avery was able to learn the essentials of the wood-engraving trade. Officially recorded as an engraver in the 1842 New York City directory, he earned a living by engraving labels and making handbills for local merchants. At the same time he began a long involvement with the publishing trade, working for periodicals such as ...

Castelli, Leo (04 September 1907–21 August 1999), art dealer, was born Leo Krauss in Trieste, then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the son of Ernest Krauss, a Hungarian-born banker, and Bianca Castelli Krauss. Following World War I and the annexation of Trieste by Italy, the Krausses changed their last name to Bianca's family name, Castelli. After receiving a law degree at the University of Milan in 1924, Leo Castelli worked at an insurance company in his hometown. In 1932 he transferred to Bucharest, Romania, where he met and wed Ileana Schapira, daughter of a wealthy industrialist. The offer of a banking job in the mid-1930s took Castelli and his wife to Paris, where they met architect and decorator René Drouin....

Daniel, Charles (11 August 1879–14 May 1971), art collector and gallery owner, was born in New York City, the middle of nine children. His father (whose name is unknown) was a coal miner in Germany before emigrating to the United States. In 1868 he met and married Daniel’s mother, and together they opened a German restaurant in what is now Manhattan’s Chelsea district. Daniel completed high school and went to work at his parents’ restaurant until approximately 1900, when he opened a place of his own with his brother George. Located on the corner of 9th Avenue and 42d Street, the Daniel Saloon became a regular meeting place for young painters such as Glenn O. Coleman (whose family had a printing shop nearby), Max Kuehne, and Ernest Lawson. Through these artists, Daniel began to learn about contemporary painting, to visit the local exhibitions, and, eventually, to collect works of art. In 1910 Daniel visited ...

Halpert, Edith Gregor (25 April 1900–06 October 1970), art dealer, was born Edith Gregoryevna Fivoosiovich in Odessa, Russia, the daughter of Gregor Fivoosiovich and Frances Lucom. Her father, who died in 1905, was a grain broker but also conducted a wine-and-spirits business with his wife. In 1906 Edith, her mother, and her sister left Russia for New York. There her mother shortened the family name to Fivisovitch. In 1914 Edith began to attend painting classes at the National Academy of Design in New York. Accounts of her next few years are murky and contradictory. It appears, however, that in 1916 she changed her name to Fein and, while continuing to study painting, took a job as a comptometer operator at Bloomingdale’s department store. By 1917 she had shown sufficient talent to become an assistant to the advertising manager of the Stern Brothers department store. In that position she not only created sketches for advertisements but also wrote copy....

Janis, Sidney (08 July 1896–23 November 1989), art dealer and collector, was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Isaac Janis, a clothing salesman and champion roller skater, and Celia Cohn. After attending elementary and vocational school in Buffalo, Janis performed on the Gus Sun Time vaudeville circuit. Working as a ballroom dancer, he demonstrated new dances such as the hesitation waltz, the one step, and others. In 1917 he joined the U.S. Naval Air Force and was sent to the Aeronautical College at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Waukegan, Illinois, to study mechanics....

Macbeth, William (09 August 1851–10 August 1917), art dealer, was born in Madden, (Northern) Ireland, the son of Robert Macbeth, a schoolteacher, and Marry Haffey. For a brief while after his father’s death in 1868, Macbeth took over his classes. In 1871 he was given a clerical position in the clearing house of the banks of the city of Dublin. He left the clearing house in 1873 to come to New York City, where his brother James was established as a successful businessman. Within a month of his arrival, he found a job at $5.00 a week in the gallery of Frederick Keppel, a dealer in fine prints, at 66 Beekman Street. This was his introduction to the art trade. “Think I will like it here,” he noted in his diary on 3 November....

Paff, Michael (?–10 June 1838), art dealer, was born in one of the states that constituted the Holy Roman Empire. No other facts about his birth or his parentage are known. Nor is it known that he ever married. Although the paucity of information about his life is discouraging, at least it may be said that none of the other art dealers of his time left a more complete record....

Sullivan, Mary Quinn (24 November 1877–05 December 1939), art teacher, collector, and dealer, was born Mary Josephine Quinn in Indianapolis, Indiana, the daughter of Thomas F. Quinn, a firefighter, and Anne E. Gleason. Her father’s parents were settlers from Ireland. The eldest child in her large family, she spent her early years on a farm in West Indianapolis until the family moved to Indianapolis. Although she was raised a Roman Catholic, her parents sent her to Shortridge High, a public high school, where she studied art. In 1899 she enrolled, with a scholarship, at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, registering for courses in composition, psychology, perspective, still life, and mechanical drawing. In 1901 she both completed her course work in art education and accepted a job in Queens as an instructor in drawing. Sent by the board of education to observe art schools in Europe, she visited Germany, Belgium, and England. In 1902 she traveled to France and Italy and first became aware of impressionist and postimpressionist painting....