Two of Australia’s longest-serving art dealers, who launched their careers in the days before auction houses came to dominate the retail sector, are winding up their businesses, although both are reluctant to utter the word “retirement”.

“You never really retire, it’s a drug,” says Sydney’s effusive Denis Savill, who is still a fixture on the auction room floor. During his 40 years in the business he bought and sold some of the biggest names in Australian art, among them Arthur Boyd, Russell Drysdale, Sidney Nolan, Jeffrey Smart and Brett Whiteley.