Duveen

Many of the old master paintings hanging in American museums arrived there largely through the deals of a single dealer, Joseph Duveen. His clients included John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon, Henry Clay Frick and William Randolph Hearst. Duveen operated in London and New York, where he sold works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Turner and Bellini to some of the wealthiest collectors of his era.

S. N. Behrman, a playwright, first assembled this portrait as a set of magazine pieces for The New Yorker. Rather than offering a dry business record, he follows the negotiations, the bargaining, the secrecy and the theatrics that surrounded each sale, and he builds a vivid picture of Duveen himself.

The book suits readers curious about the art market, the collectors who shaped American museums, and the personalities behind famous paintings.