Franz Kleinberger

Franz Kleinberger was a European art dealer. He set up a gallery called F. Kleinberger Galleries in Paris in 1848, principally involved in selling to US buyers. By 1913 he had set up a gallery on lower Fifth Avenue in New York, near the Duveen Gallery. Harry S. Sperling took over as the firm's president after Kleinberger's death around 1936.
He was the intermediary in the purchase of Fabritius's "The Goldfinch" by art collector Abraham Bredius for 6,200 francs at the sale of the Émile Martinet collection on 27 February 1896. "Ik liet Kleinburger op de veiling bieden... de heer zich om, en zegt: "nu zou ik well eens willen weten, wie de kooper is!" "C'est moi", luidde het antwoord." ["I let Kleinburger bid at the auction ... the gentleman turned around and said, "now I would like to know who the buyer is!" "C'est moi" was the answer".]