Sotheby’s Australia
When John Schaeffer visited the pre- Raphaelite exhibition at the Tate Gallery in 1984 it changed the course of his art enthusiasm. “It galvanised my collecting,” he said. “The whole exhibition struck me… the poetry, the storylines, the romanticism. As a businessman who did not have any formal training, it… caused me to suddenly pick up books and feverishly read about what inspired the artists.”
Hitherto a buyer of Australian art, Schaeffer diversified into works by Victorian artists such as Waterhouse, Poynter, Watts, Leighton and Gilbert.