Duveen's Basement | Changing group show

Duveen had the practical man’s contempt for his sometime colleague, the art historian and authenticator Bernard Berenson. From Duveen’s point of view, Berenson had a limitation: he didn’t care in the least what would sell; he was interested solely in what was beautiful. And between Berenson’s aesthetic standards and the standards of Duveen’s American customers there was a considerable gap. Duveen’s principal clients were ageing men, and they liked bright colours, they liked opulence, they liked youth and beauty; they wanted to be cheered up.

 

Details of Duveen’s upbringing and early career are thin, except for giving the vague notion of being the child of rags-to-riches immigrants giving him a thirst for success. Why he chose art is not clear; he became an expert (of sorts) and something of a connoisseur but was unquestionably driven by money rather than aesthetic pleasure.