On 29 April 1854, the first Annual Exhibition of French Paintings opened at 121 
Pall Mall (click for geospatial location). Image: G. C. Leighton after R. Sandeman, Pall Mall No. 120 and 121, n.d. Engraving. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.
The exhibition was organized by the art dealer Ernest Gambart and held in the space that would soon become known as the French Gallery. The exhibition marked the first instance of a recognizably modern commercial art gallery, a development that profoundly changed the physical, economic and social relationships between artists, dealers, art objects and viewers.
Articles
Pamela Fletcher, “On the Rise of the Commercial Art Gallery in London”
