Duveen: A Life In Art, Meryle Secrest

c. 2004

Fly: p. 4
Post-chaise, p. 16

Chaise: from the French, chair

Post: regular route, for hire

Fly: from "flying-carriage"


Chapter One: The Chase

• Lady Charlotte Schreiber, art collector, 19th century, 1860s and 1870s -- collected
• collected everything, and above all, ceramics (p. 3) -- I'm reading this reading two books by Edmund de Waall -- the #1 ceramicist in Britain right now
• she loved china even before others recognized these names: Chelsea, Bow, Worcester, and Derby
• author introduces Joel Joseph Duveen, p. 4; son Joseph Duveen - the most spectacular art dealer the world has ever known -- originated from Hull, Yorkshire; came from nowhere to become Sir Joseph Duveen
• the story of Joseph begins with his father Joel
• heritage traced back to 17th century Du Vesnes (hence, Duveen), who were related to Eberhard Jabach
• a Sephardic Jew; moved from Spain to France during the early persecutions
• Jabach: financial difficulty; sold his are to Louis XIV (1638 - 1715) -- became the nucleus of what would become the Louvre
• three masterpieces in that sale noted on page 5: Giorgione, Titian, and Correggio
• Joel Joseph Duveen, born in Meppel (Dutch),1843 -- named for the great-great-great-grandfather who was descended on the female line from Eberhard Jabach
• Oriental porcelain: Oost Indieschin Holland
• the Duveen eye -- p. 7
• the closeness between Frisian (Dutch) and Anglo-Saxon (Hull, Yorkshire) -- p. 9; I am also reading a book on the Celts which discusses the relationship between the Frisian and the Anglo-Saxon
• Joel began by selling Delft ceramics in England: Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Chester, before getting to Hull -- p. 11
• in Holland they saw Nanking porcelain of the lange lyzen type, a name given by 17th century Dutch importers to a particular design of graceful figures in Nankin blue painted on a dazzling white ground -- see pp 83 - 84 in Edmund de Waal's The White Road
• "the boys from Hull" as Joel Duveen and Barney Barnett were called
• the story of the hawthorn ginger jar -- pages 13 - 15; now in the Victoria and Albert Museum
• this lidded jar is a typical example of blue and white porcelain produced in Jingdezhen from the time of the Kangxi reign (1662-1722). The decoration of prunus blossoms and branches against a background of cracked ice may signify that this jar was intended as present for the New Year. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it became particularly popular in Europe, where it was generally known as 'ginger jar'. Edmund de Waal -- also about Jingdezhen.
• "hired a post-chaise" -- page 17
• Joel Duveen: later called the Tapestry King
• Don Quixote tapestries, page 16
• Joel marries Barney's sister Rosetta in a synagogue in Kingston upon Hull, 1869; he, 25; she 23

Chapter Two: Bond Street

• Joseph Joel Duveen, born in Hull, 1869
• Barnett and Duveen still partners in trade
• Joel now began a 30-year period of importing high-quality Dutch antiques and art objects; also majestic grandfather clocks
• Joel's sister Betsy moves in with them; huge help; she marries Henri, her cousin (keeps her Duveen name)
• Barnett departs to take over his father's business
• Henri and Joel become partners; expand to London
• Joel's younger brother, Henry, 21, loose cannon in Amsterdam; decide to send Henry to US to see about prospects there; Henry shipped off to Boston
• Joseph, as a child, remembers artists coming to his house, including Sir John Millais
• painting interested Joseph more than furniture, tapestry and porcelain which his dad, Joel, favored
• the story shifts to Henry Joseph Duveen ("Uncle Henry" to distinguish him from all the other Henrys in the family) -- who is now in Boston -- ultimately a fortune as a stamp collector
• Henry unsuccessful in Boston, moves on to NYC
• Joel takes ship to NYC with art; needs a buyer; perhaps CP Huntington (a San Francisco railway millionaire)
• J. U. Duveen established in NYC
• Uncle Henry had his first wealthy customer: department-store Benjamin Altman
• story shifts back to Joel in London looking for a better address
• Messers. Phillips: specialized in English porcelain and pottery; would rent part of their spacious premises at 181 Oxford Street, two doors west of the Pantheon
• story of how Duveen was becoming an interior decorator "almost despite himself" -- French furniture; tapestry; porcelain -- pages 28 - 29; "rebelling against soffocating and funereal conformity of Victorian bad taste -- put him at odds iwth fashionable architects of the day" -- page 30
• Dutch and Flemish Renaissance styles
• "The Duveen Lighthouse" -- page 31
• cash flow problems; he had to pay his sellers within three months; his buyers had two years credit
• problems between Joel in London and his brother Henry in New York -- page 32
• Betsy Duveen, meanwhile, in Amsterdam, remarried, another cousin
• Joel and Henry patch things up in Betsy's apartment; become the Duveen Brothers in NYC; move to Union Square where they would be for next 20 years

Chapter Three: Lady Louisa Manners



Chapter Four:



Chapter Five: