Demotte Fils

The house of Demotte added another canto to its tragi-comedy when Lucien, 17-year-old son of the late George Joseph Demotte, millionaire collector and dealer in medieval art, succeeded to the Presidency of the $2,000,000-corporation, and essayed to carry on as manager of Demotte's New York branch. Still fresh in the minds of art followers are the $500,000 damage suit of the elder Demotte against Sir Joseph Duveen, London dealer, for reflections upon the authenticity of art works sold by Demotte; the melodramatic trial in Paris of Jean Vigoroux, former agent of Demotte, which precipitated many wild charges of fakery in the Metropolitan, Louvre, etc.; and the accidental death of Demotte by a gunshot at the hand of a friend, on a hunting trip last Summer (TIME, June 11, July 23, Sept. 17). The Duveen suit is not yet settled, but the Vigoroux affair was adjusted in the French courts, favorably to the Demottes. The scandals have not seriously affected the Demotte reputation.

Young Lucien Demotte is qualified. From his cradle he absorbed aesthetics, verbally from his father, mentally from the finest private library on Gothic art in France, visually from the art treasures of Europe, in chateau, cathedral and gallery. He knows intimately and authoritatively every work in the Demotte collection. He has just returned from a trip through the Middle West.