Old Masters aren’t just for museums and country houses. In London, they’re also used as collateral at high‑end pawnshops in Mayfair, Bond Street, and the City. If you own a painting by a name like Rembrandt or Turner, you may be able to unlock serious seven-figure loans without losing ownership of your treasured asset.
In this guide, we’ll look at ten Old Master artists whose works are always welcome at luxury shops like New Bond Street Pawnbrokers.
Leonardo da Vinci
A Leonardo da Vinci is a dream scenario for any luxury pawnbroker offering loans on Old Master paintings. Active in Florence, Milan, and France in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, he produced very few finished paintings. However, he’s also known for a solid body of drawings and studio works that are intensely studied and collected in their own right.
That tight supply, combined with record‑breaking prices such as the sale of “Salvator Mundi” for around $450 million, makes him one of the strongest possible anchors for collateral lending on Old Master art.
In practice, pawning a Leonardo da Vinci painting or drawing is reserved for the rarest situations, but the logic is the same as any other high‑value art loan. The most realistic candidates are carefully documented drawings, studio‑related works, and paintings with deep scholarly research behind them.
A luxury pawnbroker specialising in loans against fine art will analyse authentication, condition, and provenance to decide how far they can go when you use a Leonardo as collateral for an Old Master loan.
Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt van Rijn is one of the strongest names a luxury pawnbroker can work with when arranging loans on Old Master artworks. Some core reasons are that his market is deep, well-documented, and truly international.
Born in Leiden in 1606 and active mainly in Amsterdam, he produced a huge range of work, including portraits, biblical scenes, landscapes, intimate genre pictures, and a vast number of etchings and drawings. That breadth means there are Rembrandt pieces at many price levels, from museum‑grade masterpieces to highly collectible works on paper. This diversity gives lenders plenty of market comparables when they are pawning Old Master art for clients.
If you want to pawn your Rembrandt, some good candidates are authenticated etchings, drawings, and smaller paintings with clear provenance and exhibition or publication history. These can be appraised and underwritten against recent auction results, allowing a luxury pawnbroker to offer a substantial short‑term loan on Old Master works while you retain ownership.
High‑quality works on paper are especially attractive for collateral lending on Old Masters, because they are easier to store, insure, and, if required, resell.
Sandro Botticelli
Sandro Botticelli is an excellent name for luxury pawnbrokers who specialise in loans against Old Master paintings, largely because he combines Renaissance prestige with genuine market scarcity. Active in Florence in the late 15th century, he painted altarpieces, devotional Madonnas, and the poetic mythologies that made him famous, such as “The Birth of Venus” and “Primavera”.
His rediscovery in the 19th and 20th centuries helped create a long, well‑documented auction history at the very top of the Old Masters market, which gives lenders confidence when they are pawning Botticelli paintings as collateral.
To get a loan against your Botticelli, the most interesting pieces are fully researched panel paintings, workshop or circle works with strong scholarly support, and high‑quality tempera paintings with traceable provenance. These are the types of works that luxury pawnbrokers for Old Masters can appraise against major sales and institutional interest. That, in turn, makes it possible to secure significant loans on Botticelli paintings while retaining long‑term ownership of your Old Master asset.
Canaletto
Canaletto is a highly attractive artist for luxury pawnbrokers offering loans on Old Master art because his work is both recognisable and reliably saleable. Born Giovanni Antonio Canal in Venice in 1697, he became famous for his precise, sunlit views of the city’s canals, squares, and churches, and later produced similar cityscapes of London for British patrons. His paintings and drawings have been traded consistently for centuries, creating a rich set of auction records and institutional collections to support valuations when pawning Canaletto paintings.
If you want to raise collateral against your Canaletto, some good examples include detailed views of Venice or 18th‑century London, along with well‑documented studio works and strong drawings. Luxury pawn shops for Old Master paintings like these works because their subjects are immediately appealing to collectors, and there are plenty of comparable sales to benchmark against. That combination of visual clarity, decorative appeal, and market data makes Canaletto ideal for collateral lending on Old Master city views.
J.M.W. Turner
J.M.W. Turner is one of the most practical British names for luxury pawnbrokers who provide loans against Old Master and Romantic art, because he combines national importance with a long, active auction market. Born in London in 1775, Turner built his reputation on luminous seascapes, atmospheric landscapes, and later, almost abstract studies of light and weather.
Collateral loans on your Turner are straightforward with authenticated watercolours, oils with solid provenance, and well‑documented sketches or studies tied to known finished works. These Turners can be confidently appraised against decades of sales, allowing a luxury pawnbroker to offer meaningful short‑term loans on Old Master and Romantic works. High‑quality watercolours and smaller oils are especially attractive for art‑backed lending, because they are easier to insure, store, re and, if necessary, realise on the open market.
Peter Paul Rubens
Peter Paul Rubens is a strong artist for luxury pawnbrokers because his work sits right at the top of the Baroque market, making him a prime candidate for loans on Old Master paintings. Born in 1577 and active mainly in Antwerp, Rubens became the archetypal Baroque painter: vast altarpieces, dynamic mythologies, sensual nudes, and powerful portraits, often produced with the help of a well‑organised studio. This combination of fame, volume, and documentation means his work is familiar territory for major auction houses and for pawnbrokers who specialise in collateral lending on Old Masters.
Realistic candidates for pawning a Rubens include well‑provenanced oil sketches, smaller devotional panels, collaborative works where his hand is significant, and high‑quality studio paintings tied to known compositions. These pieces can be benchmarked against a deep set of auction records and scholarly literature. That allows a luxury pawnbroker to structure substantial loans on Rubens paintings while remaining comfortable with the underlying Old Master asset.
Anthony van Dyck
Anthony van Dyck is an ideal artist for luxury pawnbrokers because his portraits define an entire era of European aristocratic taste, and sit naturally in the core market for loans on Old Master portraits. A Flemish painter born in Antwerp in 1599, he trained with Rubens before becoming court painter to King Charles I in England, where he created the elegant, elongated portraits that still shape how we imagine 17th‑century nobility, which is crucial when pawning van Dyck paintings.
The most pragmatic works to loan against van Dyck are authenticated oil portraits with strong provenance, documented versions of known compositions, and high‑quality studio pieces where his authorship is clearly defined. These pictures fit naturally into Old Master and British portrait sales, making them attractive as collateral. A luxury pawnbroker focused on loans against Old Master art can appraise a van Dyck against decades of market data and structure significant finance while you keep ownership.
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough is an excellent fit for luxury pawnbrokers because his work is closely tied to the British country‑house tradition and has a long, steady auction history, making him ideal for loans on classic Old Master‑style paintings. Born in 1727, he became one of the leading portrait and landscape painters of 18th‑century England. His elegant society portraits and poetic wooded landscapes are instantly recognisable, widely collected, and regularly traded, which gives lenders plenty of data when pawning Gainsborough paintings.
If you want to pawn your Gainsborough, the most realistic works are authenticated oil portraits of gentry or merchant families, characteristic landscape paintings, and well‑documented studio pieces associated with known compositions. These paintings sit very naturally in Old Master and British art sales, so a luxury pawnbroker can appraise them with confidence. That makes Gainsborough a strong candidate when you are exploring collateral lending on traditional British Old Master art.
Bernardo Bellotto
Bernardo Bellotto is a smart, slightly more insider choice for luxury pawnbrokers, because he offers the clarity of Canaletto‑style city views with added rarity and connoisseur appeal. The nephew and pupil of Canaletto, Bellotto was born in Venice in 1722. He produced highly detailed urban panoramas with cool light and sharp architectural precision. These scenes are historically important and visually striking, and they have a documented auction record at the upper end of the Old Masters market, exactly what you want when pawning a Bellotto as collateral.
Authenticated vedute of cities such as Dresden or Warsaw, documented studio pictures tied to known compositions, and strong drawings with clear provenance are some of the best pieces to get a loan against a Bellotto painting. Because they are straightforward to place in Old Master sales, luxury pawnbrokers can confidently structure specialist loans on Bellotto paintings while you keep ownership of the artwork.
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder is an interesting, more specialist name for luxury pawnbrokers. He combines strong brand recognition with a very distinctive German Renaissance style, making him stand out in the market for loans on Old Master paintings. Active mainly in Wittenberg in the early 16th century, he worked for the Saxon court and became closely associated with the Protestant Reformation. His workshop produced sinuous nudes of Venus and Lucretia, sharp portraits of princes and reformers like Martin Luther, and compact altarpieces, many now in major museums and collections.
The best pieces for getting a collateral loan against your Lucas Cranach are well‑provenanced panel paintings, especially portraits or smaller devotional and mythological scenes, that have been extensively studied and documented. Because the name has been involved in attribution debates and forgery concerns, a luxury pawnbroker offering collateral lending on Old Masters will pay close attention to technical reports, exhibition history, and scholarly opinions. When those elements are in place, Cranach can support significant loans against Old Master art while remaining an exciting long‑term asset for the owner.
