The founder of the family collecting tradition was Ing. Jan Kodl (1855–1903), who acquired Gamisch's complete picture gallery in 1885. However, he was not only a collector but also a patron of the arts. He financially supported the Quast family of painters from Písek and commisioned the young artist Mikoláš Aleš to decorate his newly built neo-Renaissance house in 1892 in sgraffito. Jan Kodl supplemented and expanded his art collection mainly with the traditional landscape work of the Haushofer school and the emerging progressive plein air styleofMařák's pupils.
The successful successor of the family collecting tradition was his son, academic painter Ing. arch. Jiří Kodl (1889–1955). He moved from his native Písek to Prague, where as an architect he completed in 1928 the construction of a functionalist villa designed both as a home and a picture gallery for the family collection. This passionate collector, watercolourist and member of the Mánes Society of Artists obtained works of art mainly from his colleagues and friends. These included, in particular, Jan Bauch, Vincenc Beneš, Oldřich Blažíček, Josef Čapek, Emil Filla, Otto Gutfreund, Miloslav Holý, František Janoušek, Alfred Justitz, Georg Kars, Rudolf Kremlička, Ludvík Kuba, Otakar Kubín, Jan Lauda, Kamil Lhoták, Otakar Marvánek, František Muzika, Vítězslav Nezval, Josef Sudek, Josef Šíma, Václav Špála, Max Švabinský, František Tichý, Jan Trampota, Jiří Trnka, Jan Zrzavý and many others. Jiří Kodl undertook regular art trips to the autumn salons of Paris, from where he occasionally brought an addition to the collection. He also acquired many paintings from other collectors, either purchasing them or exchanging them.
In the totalitarian period Pavel Kodl (1934–1994), the third in line in the family collecting tradition and a renowned expert on Czech painting, significantly contributed to the preservation and expansion of the family collection. Pavel Kodl was a professional advisor to our gallery until his death.
The modern history of the company began in October 1989, when the current owner Martin Kodl organized the first, still pre-November auction, in Prague's Žofín. Since then, the company has undergone a number of changes and modifications associated with its development to its current form. Of the auction houses created after the revolution, it belongs to those with the longest history.
