Jean Tardy-Vallernaud, owner of Gainsborough Fine Art, is an international fine art dealer, art market specialist, and consultant to art collectors.
▪ As a dealer, his firm’s most distinguishing features are his access to high-quality art works from foreign collections, the depth of his research, his commitment to compliance, and his decades of experience with affluent individuals.
▪ As an art consultant, Jean draws upon his knowledge of both art history and the global art marketplace in order to gauge a collection’s coherence and investment potential.
▪ He continues to share his expertise in writings and public speaking engagements.
Prior to Gainsborough, Jean’s career was in finance; first, as an executive with major U.S. institutions, in New York, Paris, London and Los Angeles; then, with his own investment advisory firm in Los Angeles (2000). It was in the latter capacity that he started advising clients on their art assets on an ongoing basis. He’s been a full-time art dealer since 2013.
He is the founder (2009) of The Century City Arts Council; a founding member (2006) and Secretary of STEP-Los Angeles (worldwide Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) and Chair of its Art Panel in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2025.
His community commitments have included active positions on the boards of the LA Philharmonic’s Business and Touring committees, the LA Library Foundation, and the LA Public Counsel Law Center.
He currently serves on the Art Design Panel of LA Metro, charged with the selection of artists and works to be installed in the stations under construction on the city’s Westside.
A dual U.S.-French national, fully bilingual, and conversant in Spanish, Jean was educated in France (Liberal Arts), then in the U.S. (UC-Berkeley B.S., Wharton MBA). He has been a resident of Los Angeles since 1985, where he shares his passions between the arts, writing fiction novels with a touch of art crime, social and cultural change, world affairs, travel – and his wife and five grandchildren.