After studying music and musical-instrument making, Stephen Somerville joined Sotheby's Print department in London and then in New York. In 1967, he joined P & D Colnaghi in charge of the department dealing with English paintings, prints and drawings. Since 1987, he has had his own company selling works of art from a private gallery in the West End of London. He is chairman of the Friends of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, and a member of the Arts and Libraries Committee of the MCC.