Derek Johns (b. 1942) became a Director of Sotheby´s in 1968 and was subsequently appointed Head of the Old Master Paintings department by 1974. In 1981 he became an independent art dealer in partnership with Philip Harari at 12 Duke Street, St James’s. He established his own gallery, Derek Johns Ltd in 1996 and remained at the same Duke Street address until 2016 when he moved to the current premises in Bury Street. He has expertise in all major European schools of art from the 13th to the 18th centuries. He came across Edward Lear at the age of about 5 with his nonsense rhymes. Later, he fell in love with the island of Corfu, which he made his home and began to collect Lear’s drawings and paintings of the Ionian period alongside all things Corfiot.