Henry Joseph Duveen (26 October 1854[1] – 15 January 1919) was a British art dealer who co-founded the firm of Duveen Brothers with his brother, Joseph.
Duveen was born in Meppel, Netherlands, the son of Eva (van Minden) and Joseph Henoch Duveen, who were both from Dutch Jewish families.[2]
Henry Duveen went to New York to establish a gallery there in the 1870s whilst his brother, Joel Joseph, founded galleries in London and Paris. One of Henry's first clients was the department store owner Benjamin Altman who until his death in 1913 purchased a large collection of Oriental porcelain from him, as well as many Rembrandts, Italian Renaissance masterpieces, and old rugs etc.
Philately
Duveen owned some of the great rarities of philately, including the "Miss Rose" cover franked with a pair of British Guiana "cotton reels"[5] and more than one Post Office Mauritius.[6] He restricted himself to issues before 1896 and, at its height, his collection took up sixty-nine Stanley GibbonsOrielalbums.[7] Duveen's son, Sir Geoffrey Edgar Duveen (1883–1975), inherited his general stamp collection.[8]
References
^Bierman, Stanley M. The World's Greatest Stamp Collectors. New York: Frederick Fell Publishers Inc., 1981, p. 90; ISBN0811903478
Phillips, Charles J. (1922) The Duveen Collection of Rare Old Postage Stamps: A Brief Description of Some of the Rarities of this Famous Collection. New York: Charles J. Phillips.
Duveen Brothers records at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession No. 960015. The records provide a detailed view of the Duveen Brothers business activities in London, Paris, and New York.
Duveen Brothers stock documentation from the dealer's library at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession No. 2007.D.1. The collection document the Duveen Brothers' cataloging, research, exhibition work, and publication of works of art and collections.