title: The Connoisseurship Practices of a “Levantine” of Marseille or When Trade Meets Art
abstract: The Connoisseurship Practices of a "Levantine" of Marseille or When Trade Meets ArtWill you allow me, Sir, to tell you that . . .you seem to surrender too easily to Mr. Mariette.His authority may impose itself on those who can only see through his eyes, but you are not destined to keep quiet before him, and in your mouth the αὐτὸς ἔφα would be too modest.¹These few words addressed by Abbé May to the Marseille merchant Pierre-Augustin Guys (1721 -99), in an unpublished letter dated April 10, 1771