Evening star., 1920-09-19
AMERICA INVOLVED
IN AN ART MYSTERY
A Leonardo da Vinci Sent From France
Without Payment of Customs
Duty
PARIS. September !. 1890.

PARIS. September !. 1920.
La Belle Feronniere." by Leonardo
da Vinci. the famous master of the
Fiorentine School and one Of the
worlds greatest painters. arrived in
New York from France recently. and IL
destined to grace the gallery of ar
American collector"
So begins the story of first
class mystery. published. from New
York. in the American Sunday pa
pers of July last
The painting represents a young
woman of unusual beauty, and is said
to be one of five easel pictures by
Leonardo da Vinci known to exist.
to leave Europe for America" 1t
continues. Before the war. the
painting was valued at 3,0OO,OO0 francs
and at the present time experts declare
that the famous picture by the mas
ter who painted Mona Lisa. one Of the
treasures OF the Louvre, Is worth at
least twice this sum-"
One should say so. London has only
one Leonardo painting. "The Madonna
of the Rocks at the National Gal
!ery. Florence has one. The Alteration
of the Mag; Milan. one 1.-THE Last
Supper Rome, one. the St Jerome
panel. and Paris. whose Louvre gallery
Annunciatio The Virgin of the
Rocks" the Lisa: 1.-THE Virgin and Child
with Ste. Anne" and est. john the Bap-
tist.''
In the Louvre, there are also two
Leonardo paintings which Leonardo did
not paint. or if Leonardo did not paint
them, somebody else did. Boltraffio. OF
Bernardino I.uini, or Jacopo da Pontor-
mo. or Cesare de Sesto. or 'some best
and nearest to his manner. if not actual
ly his" These are No. 1900 and No
1905 OF the Louvre gallery. and both OF
them are La Belle Ferronniere.
That is to say, neither of them is the
beginning that here is a first-class mys-
terry. worthy of the attention alike of
art lovers and newspaper editors. 1t
is a mystery of the ages; and we are all
more or less the heirs OF them mean
of the ages). just as Mrs. (Capt.) Harry
can aviator, is heiress of the Chateau
briends
The Belle Ferronniere, you say. has
gone to America with Hahn. You have
read. textually. that during the war,
the painting was stored. with other art
treasures in the Louvre for safe keep
ing; and afterward it was brought to
And here we are all mixed up again,
because the Louvre was considered SO
unsafe place in a German invasion
that it's chief treasures were shipped
as far south as Toulouse! But, any
how. you say. she is now in America,
Junction. or else Tulsa. Okla. cab'e
frcm New York to the Paris New York
Herald tells:
What is purported to be one of the
five original paintings of Leonardo da
Vinci known to exist. and the first ever
to leave Europe, arrived here on Mon
day last in the Finland and was sent
ed In the city's new 100000 art mu.
scum 1t Ia la Belle Ferronniere. q
said to have been authenticated by
French government critics, who apprais-
ed it at 100000 francs.
1.-The painting continues the news
paper cablegram)- was In the keeping
Of Mr. Harry J. Hahn, former aviator,
into whose possession it passed when he
married the daughter Of Capt. Lardoux.
who had charge of aerial defense OF
Paris. 1t is said that the prohibitive
export tax-would have made it impos-
siblc to bring the painting from France
except that the owner. having become an
American citizen, was privileged to
take her own property wherever she
wished. She is the niece Of Comtesse
de Pontbriand, who married grandson
of Chateaubriand, through whom the
painting came to the Lardoux family.
Accompanying the painting were certifi-
Gates signed by NJ Georges Sortais and
attested by the ministry Of foreign
affairs and by the American consul gen
eral in Paris. declaring that this is the
original, of which the painting remain
ing IN the Louvre is copy. probably
by one Of da Vinci's pupils.
So. she Ii not La Belle Ferronniere,
after all, but q better one!
She may have been in the Louvre for
safe keeping Cat time when the treas
ures Of the Louvre themselves were in
Toulouse for safe keeping); but the
Louvre was not her home Safe In the
family of Chateaubriands. she escaped
the mispasting Of a labeA which saddied
For-you shall see how great and in
accessible is the Mares Nest there
was a time when the present defini.
tive Louvre catalogue did not exist
and Lafenestre & Richtenberger had
not yet published their monumental
work. In those days, like Little But
tercup. they mixed those babies up
and not a person knew it,"
Not to give it on, a vague newspaper
authority, I quote the most recent en-
tire book on Leonardo da Vinci.s by
Prof. Edward McCurdy, NJ. a, in the
Great Masters series Of George Bel
and Son, London, in which all the
great critics are summed up and all
the MSS, letters. memoirs, ETC., ex-
amined:
1.-THE picture in the Louvre, "A Por-
trait of a Woman No. 1900. to which
the title, La Belle Ferronniere. was
for a time transferred from anotnei
picture, has been identified with the
portrait of Lucrezia Crivelli. The at
tribution is a mere hypothesis, rest,
ing upon no evidence of any KIND.
believe the picture to be. as Dr. Frlz
zoni considers it, the work of Boil
traffic, whose Madonna OF the CASIO
Family hangs on the same wall
Either would have been an unto
ward fate for some unknown blame'
less lady: because Lucrezia CrNen
was no better than she ought to nave
heen Can these frank eyes be those
of an Intriguing lady-in- waiting. con
cerninr whom the proud young Ouch
ess Beatrice d'Este. refused to weal
a vest of woven gold. the gift OF mel
husband if Lucrezia Crivelli ever
,uora a similar one which the duke
had Given her? AS for the Belle Fer
ronniere. she was a tragical and Dan
peroua one, as a historical fact' WIN
out entirely knowing IT.
Here is the history OF La beile
Ferronniere.. from Larousse. Micne
vas the wiffo a Paris business man
whom, Kingi.Francis l had put in
heaut;f,Il house Of her own, oppo.
.;ta the famous Hotel Barbette, anc
- 10 curious that this tragic house
~ hers stiIl standing. In the present
Rue Barbette. is actually, at TINS
moment, on the point OF either oelne