L. Cornelissen& Son

Louis Cornelissen, from a family of Flemish lithographers, founded this art supplies shop in 1855. The Cornelissen family ran it until the last member working there died in 1977 and the shop closed; two years later, restorer of Orthodox icons Stavros Mihalarias reopened it with Nicholas Walt, and it moved to its present Great Russell Street premises, near the British Museum, in 1988. Glass-fronted cabinets and wooden drawers hold dry pigments, gilding materials and specialist papers that have largely vanished from mainstream art shops. Printmakers and conservators travel across London for materials found nowhere else in the city. Orders can still be placed by phone or letter as well as online, with a standard five working days allowed for processing.