Joseph Duveen, 1st Baron Duveen

Joseph Duveen ( born October 14, 1869 in Hull, † May 25 1939 in London) was a British art dealer and art collector.

Life

His Jewish father was Joseph Joel Duveen, who lived in Hull and had thirteen children. Duveen attended University College School. He worked as an art dealer with his older brother Henry J. Duveen (1855-1918) in London. They sold particular art of North American art collectors. His clients included the American Henry Clay Frick, William Randolph Hearst, Henry Edwards Huntington, JP Morgan, Samuel Henry Kress, Andrew Mellon, John D. Rockefeller and the Canadian Frank Porter Wood. As a result of its trade with paintings he was wealthy and awarded at the end of his life a number of donations to collections and museums in England. Among other things, the Duveen Gallery was built in the British Museum. In 1920 he was involved in a legal dispute with Andrée Hahn to the authenticity of the painting La Belle Ferronière of Leonardo da Vinci.

On February 3, 1933 him the noble title of Baron was awarded because of its donations to the British Museum in London.