The Artful Partners: The Secret Association of Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen

by Colin Simpson

This is an account of a secret partnership between a leading authority on Italian Renaissance painting, Bernard Berenson, and a successful and suspect art-dealer, Joseph Duveen. Berenson was a respected man whose pupils included Kenneth Clark. They were an unlikely pair but their partnership continued until shortly before Duveen's death. Their clients were American collectors and British aristocracy. The book traces each man's origins and their lives before they came together and describes many of the profitable coups in which they were involved. Finally it recounts the quarrels and intrigues which led to the breakdown of the partnership. A television series based on this book is planned for 1988. Colin Simpson was responsible for the articles which exposed the London antique dealers auction ring in 1964.

Genres: Art History, Art, History

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

(Edwin) Colin Simpson, author. After leaving school, Colin Simpson worked in advertising before becoming a journalist. He was also a proficient writer of verse. His long poem 'Infidelities' was included in Trio(1931) with poems from Kenneth Slessor and Harley Matthews. But he is, perhaps, better-known in the history of Australian poetry as the Sydney Sun journalist who broke the story of the Ern Malley Hoax.Simpson joined the ABC in 1947 to write travel documentaries, an occupation that prepared him for his successful career as a freelance writer of popular travel books. In addition to these publications, Simpson also published the novel Come Away, Pearler (1952). He was for some time the Vice-president of the Australian Society of Authors and he was instrumental in securing the Public Lending Right legislation for Australian authors. For his services to Australian literature, he was made OBE in 1981

Reviews

[Victoria]

Makes one wonder about the authenticity of major works if art!!

[Reilly Davidson]

Ebullient.