The private ownership of great art, its seclusion from the general view of men and women, let alone from that of interested amateurs and scholars, is a curious business. The literal disappearance of a Turner or a Van Gogh into some Middle Eastern or Latin-American bank vault to be kept as investment and collateral, the sardonic decision of a Greek shipping tycoon to put an incomparable El Greco on his yacht, where it hangs at persistent risk — these are phenomena that verge on vandalism.


"The Cleric of Treason". - George Steiner: A Reader (1984)


The private ownership of great art, its seclusion from the general view of men and women, let alone from that of interested amateurs and scholars, is ...

The private ownership of great art, its seclusion from the general view of men and women, let alone from that of interested amateurs and scholars, is ...

The private ownership of great art, its seclusion from the general view of men and women, let alone from that of interested amateurs and scholars, is ...

The private ownership of great art, its seclusion from the general view of men and women, let alone from that of interested amateurs and scholars, is ...