The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-05-17

| spurious objects,
THE great demand for genuine
articles acts as a stimulus for in.
creased spurious production. Every
once in . while this activity fol.
lows a new line. Only recently
Prof. A. Kingsley PortoF. Of Har.
ward University. in publicly com.
menting on this fact relating to
sculpture, said the following:
IAN increasing demand very
shortly found the angpF Of gsnu-
market became flooded with imitar
"The best, or the worat. Of these
are, so far as I can see, fndia-
| tingulshhble with Certaln4y on In
ternaI evidence from the genuine
articles. At all events the most
learned students have been deceived
BY them. The most faStidi0ue mus
seums and collectors have bought
them.
MY opinion was not q personal
reflection upon Denote, or upon
anyone else, It was q Judgment
upon the article, ana not the per-
son. While have, In the, past,
frequently expressed my personal
regard for Denote, obviously that
could not influence md in passing
| Judgment upon an object Of art.
| OBJECTS Of art must stand on their
own base, regardless of their owner
or of the dealer who may have
sold them.
Won't Be Intimidated.
while I have no persnnal quar-
rel with Denote. still I shall not
be intimidated either By his law
suit or by his promises Of whole.
sale public donation at nay expense.
Perhaps HIS philanthropy would be
more appreciated IL he were to
make his donation out Of his own
money, instead OF requiring the
beneficiary to take the risk Of q
law suit still unWop.
"It ia, of course, lanentable
condition IL an art expert, qualified
by years OF study, research and ex-
perience, is to be hailed to court
every time he gives his honest, pro-
fessional opinion on objects Of art
brought to him for Judgment.
However, understand that De-
motto will have ample opportunity
to prove the authenticity Of his
Virgin and Child. His controversy.
with the Dreicer estate involves,
am told, only the authenticity Of
this enamel.
IF it is genuine and as repse-
. scented, he should win that law suit
and thereby vindicate his Judgment
as we'll as his enamel. He win then
have lost nothing. and will have
suffered no damage. Perhapa ha
could then afford TO make his don0-
ton without any contribution from
me.
If. however, he should lose that
law suit and have to refund the
purchase price, then he and his en-.
amel will have been proven wrong
and my opinion vindicated. But I
fear that in such event Demotta'a
public donation may be rather in
definitely postponed.
Suit Beside the Mark"
And so it seems to me his law
suit against me is really quite be-
side the mark. What Is of the
most importance, however. is that
an authentic subject of art should
be demonstrated for what 1t il.
That is subject in which the pub
lie and the entire art world must
always be keenly interested.
"The integrity Of great colleo-
| IAOAAo uCpChu0 NAIAAy ApOA tue
accuracy and fearlessness OF ex-
and condemning the unauthantic.
In this country today there are
not only the great museums but
also wonderful private collections
which are eventually to 30 into
| the museums.
"These must all be kept pure
and clean, and every object In
them must be like Caesars wife.
Keenly as I deplore litigation
and controversy, I shall always
give my honest Judgment and
best-considered opinion to those
who are entitled to seek the same,
regardless of the person who may
be affected or of the nature of
the object involved, and even
though l may be called upon to
defend myself in q court Of Jus
tice.
"Demotte's allegations that de-
rogatory statements were made
to certain individuals / emphat-
ically deny. No such statements
were made by me to anyone, and
| when the facts are shown this
| 1t is, however, true that several
opinion given to the Dreicer es-
tate as to the Denote enamel.
Notes a Letter.
ITO these dealers I have only
confirmed the fact that I gave
it because I believed 1t to be true
A fair instance of this is shown
by the following copy Of a letter Of
| Parish Watson, one of the gentle
men Ohe others being abroad to
whom, as Denote says, derogatory
statements were made:
| New York, May IA, 1923.
Parish Watson Company, Inc,
"'Old Chinese Porcelains.
| ""Theodore Hetzler, ESQ, prest-
dent Fifth Avenue Bank, $40 Fifth
Avenue, New York
"Dear Mr.. Hetzler:
| Referring to our conversation
regarding suit which Mr.. Danotte
is bringing against Duveen Broth.
ers, 1 was surprised to hear that
there had been any rumors that
| YOU and were to appear as wit
nesses for Mr.. Denote.
"'John Quinn spoke to nae about
| the case one day when / met him
at Denotes, and asked me wheth-
err I had had any conversation with
Sir Joseph regarding the Virgin. i"
my reply was, that Sir Joseph
had expressed his opinion to me:
namely: That the Virgin was not
authentic, but that he thought