Evening star., 1923-11-18
By STERLING HEILIG.

the Belle Ferronniere" old
master on her trip de luxe to
Paris, is turning on the Rotter-
dam to New York, and thence to
Kansas. City.
With him returns. of course. the
famous oil painting, insured for
$500 oOO-the French government
having scrupulously kept it's gentle
s,en's agreement not to lay hands on
ner as presumably former crown
property or otherwise.
In the view Of her friends, the
Belle Ferronniere" of Kansas City
has had the unique honor (never en-
3oyed by any other American-owned
old mastery to be sent for to hang
In the Louvre gallery, side by side
with the "Relle Ferronniere" of
Paris, No. 1900 of the Louvre Cata-
logue
In their view. she has successfully
supported comparison with her rival
(and almost duplicate) under the at
tacks of hostile experts, and vindi-
Gated her Legitimacy before her only
judge-the supreme court of the
state of New York.
Her fate is still undecided. Is she
true Leonardo da Vinci the only
painting by that great master of the
early renaissance now in America, or
ever likely to get there-because all
other known Leonardos or near
Leonardos are the property of Eu-
ropean governments?
The supreme court of New York
has not yet spoken. Later it will
decide on the total evidence, for and
against, ultimately submitted to It.
Its judges as a fact know nothing
Of this trip to Paris--a curious de-
tail, quite misunderstood by the cable
men. as will appear. But. certainly,
by reason of the trip which capped its
climax the Kansas City picture has
become the best known old master in
America,
All at her enemies expense.
X X * 4
GO eXult her friends-because ii is
~ another extraordinary fact that
all these heavy expenses were
undertaken and paid by Sir Joseph
Duveen of the international art
firm. Paris. London and New York.
All these expenses of insurance and
transatlantic transport of the pic
ture; of the passage, both ways, of
the lawyers of both sides, and of
their hotel bills while in Paris; plus
the railway fares across Europe of
a crowd of experts. their hotel bills,
their honorariums. if any: plus ar
rangements with the Louvre Gf any),
the American consul generals fee
and the stenographeTs big bill and
all the rest. were proposed and de-
frayed by the enemies of the Kan
sas City Belle" with the avowed
object of giving her black eye.
Everybody knows how it began.
In 1920, Immediately on it's arrival
at Kansas City in the dowry of the
French war bride of Capt. Harry
Hahn (of the A. Z. F. bombing avia-
tion), Sir Joseph impulsively de-
clared in print that this Belle
Ferronniere" was no Leonardo.
The picture sent to Kansas City is
a copy" said Sir Joseph in a New
York paper, hundreds of which have
been made of this and other Leonardo
subjects and offered in the market
as genuine. Leonardo never made
replica of his work. His original
Belle Ferronniere' is in the Louvre"
Mrs. Hahn brought suit against Sir
Joseph for s500,000 damages, but Of
fered, always, to withdraw the suit
should he take back his cruel words.
Sir Joseph stood pat. The suit has
run three years, and is far from
ended.
IF a genuine Leonardo da vinci
has actually got into America" said
Bernard Berenson, his foremost ex-
pert, ut is of the utmost Importance
to verify it,''
X x
90, here you have the Kansas City
- Belle" in Paris by divers calcu-
lations of astute men. for and against
her. Il refer to the lawyers. the IA
nous Louis Levy of New York, for
the Duveens, and Hon. Hyacinthe
Ringrose. London barrister and New
York lawyer, for the picture.)
Did Sir Joseph get his moneys
worth?
In one detail, 1t would seem that
the fine diplomat who is Hyacinthe
Ringrose let it, perhaps, be smeared
somewhat over him by cutting 1t too
fine. 1t was when he let the cable
men send off the capital error that "a
jury of nine prominent American and
European art connoisseurs decided
against the American Belle" Con
september 15). This notably mistaken
news item added that two such. Sir
Charles Holmes and Prof. Adolfo
Vsntur, rendered their final verdict