The painting of a buxom brunette called La Belle Ferronière was still displayed, last week, in a Manhattan courtroom. Was it the work of Leonardo da Vinci? To this question Georges Sortais, French connoisseur, had answered YES, and the owner of the painting, Mrs. Harry J. Hahn of Kansas City, had believed him. But Sir Joseph Duveen, potent millionaire art dealer, had murmured NO, thus preventing the sale of the painting to the Kansas City art museum. Therefore Mrs. Hahn had sued Sir Joseph for $500,000 (TIME, Feb. 18). The trial involved comparisons...
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