Without the vast overheads of auction houses and galleries, the leaner, nimbler, more discreet advisory model chimes with a cautious market. Baer points to “the biggest art advisory event in history”—when Sotheby’s bought Art Agency, Partners (AAP) in 2016 for $85m. Art advisory is an amorphous term, covering all manner of activity, as Beaumont says. Beaumont adds: "With the professionalisation of the art advisory business, the reality is that it probably doesn't work as a lifestyle business. Harry Smith, the executive chair of the valuations, advisory and art financing business Gurr Johns, has a long view of the advisory business.