The 48 Laws Of Power

I62
LAW‘ll

a

highprice.Among

the

guests

wasa

young

Frenchartcriticwhoseemed

extremelyknowledgeable

andconfident.

Wanting

to

impress

this

man,

the

tyeoon’sdaughter

showedhimthe

Diirer,

whichhadnot

yet

been

hung.

Thecriticstudieditfora

time,

then

finally

said,

“You

know,

Idon’tthink

thisDiireris

right.”

Hefollowedthe

young

womanasshehurriedtotell

herfatherwhathehad

said,

andlistenedasthe

magnate,

deeply

unsettled,

turnedtoDuveenforreassurance.Duveen

justlaughed.

“How

very

amus-

ing,”

hesaid.“Do

you

realize,

young

man,

that

at

least

twenty

otherart

ex-

perts

hereandin

Europe

havebeentaken

in

too,

andhavesaid

that

painting

isn’t

genuine?

Andnow

you’ve

madethesamemistake.”Hiscon-

fidenttoneandairof

authority

intimidatedthe

Frenchman,

who

apolo-

gized

forhismistake.

Duveenknewthattheartmarketwasfloodedwith

fakes,

andthat

manypaintings

hadbeen

falsely

ascribedtooldmasters.Hetriedhisbest

to

distinguish

therealfromthe

fake,

butinhiszealtosellheoftenover-

played

awork’s

authenticity.

Whatmatteredtohimwasthatthe

buyer

be-

lieved he had

bought

a

Diii-er,

and that Duveenhimself convinced

everyone

ofhis

“expertness”through

hisairof

irreproachableauthority,

Thus,

itis

important

tobeableto

play

the

professor

when

necessary

and

never

impose

suchanattitudeforitsownsake.