THE CONNOISSEURS
THE RISE OF THE HOUSE OF DUVEEN, by H. Duveen; Longmans, Green and Ltd., English price 18/-. REMEMBER : reading the sparkling series of profiles on the late Lord Duveen by S. N. Behrman, which appeared in The New Yorker a few years ago, but I was quite unprepared for the intense pleasure I received from this book. For more than fifty years
prior to the Second World War, the Duveen family were the Rothschilds of the art and antique world. With the instincts of gamblers and the finesse of connoisseurs they moved in an atmosphere as exotic as that of the Arabian nights. How lucky we are that J. H. Duveen, a nephew of the firm’s founder and himself a recognised authority on art, has survived to set down, at the age of 83, his written notes and recollections; doubly fortunate that he has the gift of prose as simple and luminous as the priceless works of art he describes. He has charm, wit, humour and poignancy. Here are the plots of a dozen fascinating stories: frantic cross-Channel journeys, with hundreds of thousands of pounds at stake; covert treasure hunts in decayed mansions; psychological blitzes on millionaire tycoons and a secret rendezvous with cold-blooded killers. There is a portrait of the great J. P. Morgan which I shall always remember and, for good measure, the solution to the
baffling real-life mystery of Mayerling. The chronology of his stories is uncertain and Mr Duveen is vague about dates, but who cares? The book ends with the deaths of Sir Joel and Henry Duveen, whose genius built a fantastic commercial empire. "It is my intention if I am spared," the author says, "to complete the saga in another volume describing the period when Joe (Lord Duveen) was the undisputed master." I sincerely hope to
read it.
Henry
Walter
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 952, 8 November 1957, Page 14
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308THE CONNOISSEURS New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 952, 8 November 1957, Page 14
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