Art: De Latour

In Paris, an auctioneer’s hammer was falling upon the properties of the late M. Paul Dutasta, secretary of the Versailles Peace Conference. They were bidding for a portrait of Mme. Rouill de Lestang, who was a handsome woman enough but more than ever desirable on a canvas signed by Maurice Quentin de Latour (1704-88), whose pastels were the glory of the Salons for 37 years, and won him a court paintership under Louis XV. Up and down went the bids, three-quarters of a million, eight-tenths, nine-tenths, the whole of a million francs (approximately $123,123). There the bidding paused, hesitated; the hammer fell. “Parbleu!” cried French dealers. “But what a bargain!” Before the War a similar De Latour brought thrice the price.