A POSITIVE VOTE FOR REPRODUCTIONS—HENRY FORD.

A POSITIVE VOTE FOR REPRODUCTIONS—HENRY FORD. S.N. Behrman wrote a wonderful biography of Sir Joseph Duveen, the art dealer who sold the paintings to Frick and Mellon that form the basis of the collections in the Frick Museum and the National Gallery in Washington. One of Duveen’s prospective customers was Henry Ford, and Duveen prepared three large volumes of beautiful reproductions of masterpieces that Duveen wanted to sell Ford. This excerpt from Behrman’s biography on Google books tells what happened. Ford’s “delight was immeasurable.” He called his wife in and said: “Mother, come in and see the lovely pictures these gentlemen have brought.” Duveen said the books were a gift, but they had been put together to try to interest Ford in buying the pictures in the book. Ford’s reply: “But, gentlemen,….what would I want with the original pictures when the ones right here in these books are so beautiful?”