New-York tribune., 1910-12-23
COUNTS" VISIT TO CITY
D'AuIby, Here Fifteen Years Ago,
Tried to Sell His Pictures.
WILLING TO TAKE. A LOAN
Announced He Was to Wed
Heiress. but Didn't Succeed in
First Quarter He Named.

The cable descriptions Of the trial at
Tours, France. of Count d'Aulby de Ga
tigny and his wife. who was Miss Fran
cesca Lunt Of Boston, on the charge o.
selling spurious paintings to the Duchesse
de Choiseul-Prasln, recalled yesterday to
the mind of lawyer in this city. who met
the count in a professional way during
his visit In New York in 1895 or 1896, few
of the latters doings here.
The counts" mission to this country on
that visit was to raise money to rehabli-
tate the great estate of his family, which
was then in bankruptcy, as he said. This
he expected to do partly by the sale OF
some thirty or forty paintings that he
brought with him.
He was a small, thin. debonneir person,
who, despite his French cognor,en, spoke
with decided English accent The lost
estate that he sought to rebuild was in the
wine country, he said
Count d'Aulby was not overburdened
with cash when he engaged furnished
room in West 35th street, near Fifth ave
nue. and was frank to admit it, but he had
an amount Of self-assurance which enabled
hin, to make the acquaintance OF many
persons well known in society
| It was a friend Of the Vanderbilt family
| furnished the details Of this story
The count" valued his pictures at severa
hundred thousand dollars. he said But ~
seemed to have little else in the way o.
tangible assets His financial condition and
the possession Of the pictures created ths
| impression that it was not the counts
own $1,000 that was paid to the Un1tee
States Custom House as duty on the can
vases that he brought in
! He placed the paintings in g. storage ware
house at Seventh avenue and SD street
One Of these was The Horse Show mat
he admitted, was a copy Of Rosa Bonneur
painting in the Metropolitan Museum Q!
Art. But the other pictures. he tnststec
were al originals. There were GONE oS
Frans Halls, others by Rembrandt, accord
| ING, to the story Of the count, and SUI
Others from, the brushes OF Titan, RapnaN
and Valesouez.
! And It was just about the time tha
D'Aulby conhded to some OF his acqua!nt
arces that he was engaged to marry MS:
| Anna Gould, subsequently the Countess q
lCasteI!ane and now the Princess de Sagan
that the count opened negotiations WIZ,
a. NAY, living IN New Jersey for chatte
MORTGAGE on the collection Of paintings
| He wanted loan OF $4,000, but this wa!
not to include one Of his Titians. which ~
said he wanted to exhibit IN Chicago Ih'
negotiations for the loan fell through, be
cause the prospective lender refused to 40
vance the money unless all the, picture:
were included in the chattei nortgase
Some CT the canvases were framed -
aznlained that the framed ones had oeel
long IN his family, while those untra-aes
had been stolen from a, Spanish cathedra
bv being cut out Of their frames
The s'count'' was much put out by pens
ccn,nel1ed to pay $1,000 duties on the p.ct
ures, and tried to have bill introduced II
Congress to give him back this money H
did not succeed in selling his pictures mere
although he wrote for each one q ions hi1
tory. He did succeed in inducing the az
! critic of a. newspaper to reproduce some
, of the paintings and to print CLOWNS
account Of the collection, and It IS hintee
THAT this article helped him Hnater!aHy y
winnine the hand Of a Massachuseu.
iudees daughter He took the collection
| hack with him to France