The Gallery
On the study & trade of historical objects.
TenCate Art is a privately-held fine art gallery dedicated to the connoisseurship and trade of European art across every period — from Old Master paintings on panel and canvas and polychrome sculpture of the Low Countries, Germany, Spain and Italy, through illuminated manuscripts and objets de vertu, to modern and 20th-century masters in painting, sculpture and works on paper.
Works are sourced through long-standing relationships with private estates, ecclesiastical collections, and the established international auction houses. Each acquisition is assessed against the current literature — catalogues raisonnés, exhibition catalogues, monographs and museum holdings — and, where relevant, discussed with academic specialists prior to offering.
Every object is inspected in person and documented: medium, support, dimensions, period and workshop attribution, condition under raking and ultraviolet light, traces of original polychromy or gilding, and the full chain of provenance insofar as it can be established. We prefer authentic patina to interventionist restoration; the marks of time form part of the historical evidence we transmit.
Condition reports, comparanda and bibliography are available on request for any work in the cabinet. Private viewings, scholarly correspondence and targeted searches on behalf of collectors and institutions are conducted with discretion.
Patrick ten Cate · Founder
About me
Patrick ten Cate.
Art dealer · 10+ years
Over the past decade Patrick has grown from a young enthusiast into a passionate and driven art dealer. What began as a fascination for the material witnesses of mediaeval and early modern Europe has broadened into a scholarly practice across the full arc of European fine art — from Gothic sculpture and Old Master paintings to modern and post-war works on paper.
Each work that enters the gallery is studied in person — under raking and ultraviolet light, against the relevant catalogues raisonnés and museum holdings — and discussed, where useful, with academic specialists. The aim is the same with every piece: to understand the object on its own terms, place it correctly, and pass it on to a collector who will care for it.