Austrian dealer Thaddaeus Ropac is probably the most charming man in the art world; number one on any party guestlist. He fended off a members’ club, a fashion label and multiple hedge-funders to bag Dover Street’s Grade-I listed Ely House – a former meeting spot for the suffragettes. And he convinced Julia Peyton-Jones to leave her post at the Serpentine to become the gallery’s global director, now delivering shows from artists such as Antony Gormley and Joseph Beuys.



