Joseph Duveen had an affinity for art and damn good taste to boot.

One day, he noticed that Europe had tons of art and America had tons of money. So, the seventeen-year-old Duveen stocked up on a shit load of art, boarded a ship in London and sailed to America.

The trip proved lucrative. So much so, that Duveen would spend the rest of his life carting art back and forth across the Atlantic.

Duveen was a real showman.

He would go to the ends of the Earth to make his clients happy. He’d get them entry into the country estates of English nobility. He’d book them passage on sold-out ships. He’d even provide them with architects to build their third, fourth and fifth homes (making certain the draftsman designed in ample wall space for hanging art).

Duveen’s dramatic flair quickly paid off.

Soon, he became the go-to art dealer for American royalty. When railroad tycoons and steel moguls wanted to get their hands on an original Titian or a Raphael or a Donatello… they’d ask for Duveen.

Perhaps the most dazzling tale of Duveen’s storied career took place when he was courting J.P. Morgan, the wealthiest and most iconic art collector of the twentieth century.

Having finally landed a meeting with Morgan, Duveen stepped into his New York mansion on Fifth Avenue dressed to the hilt.

Morgan didn’t bother saying hello to Duveen but instead pointed to five identical vases. He told Duveen that three of the vases were sixteenth-century Ming masterpieces and the other two were exact replicas. Morgan then demanded Duveen tell him which of the vases were the originals.

Without saying a word, the legendary art dealer strutted up to the vases with his pearl-handled cane and with two violent swings, he shattered the two replicas, sending shards scattering across Morgan’s marble floor.

From that moment on, every piece of art that J.P. Morgan purchased was through Duveen.

A little showmanship goes a long way.

By Cole Schafer.

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