Status
Available
Publication
New York : Little Bookroom, 2003.
Description
A startling number of masterpieces now in American museums are there because of the shrewdness of one man, Joseph Duveen, art dealer to John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon, Henry Clay Frick, and William Randolph Hearst. In a series of articles originally published in The New Yorker, playwright S.N. Behrman evokes the larger-than-life Duveen and reveals the wheeling and dealing, subterfuge, and spirited drama behind the sale of nearly—but not quite—priceless Rembrandts, Vermeers, Turners, and Bellinis.
User reviews
LibraryThing member piemouth
Elegantly written account of the art dealer who realized that Europeans had fine collections of art but needed cash, while American millionaires would pay good money for art that would give them class and that they they could leave as their legacy. He carefully groomed his buyers and made sure they
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understood he was the only dealer who could get them the finest works. I grew up going to the Huntington Library in San Marino so I especially enjoyed the account of how Duveen obtained it for H. E. Huntington. Show Less
LibraryThing member ShadowBarbara
Great book with lots of insights into what a great salesman can do.
Subjects
Awards
Notable Books List (1952)