Could Your Excellency Wrap It Too?

I knew royalty bought Richard Blow’s Montici mosaics.

But I didn’t know nobility worked behind the counter to sell them.

European royalty attended Richard’s first marriage in Paris in 1926, and aristocrats across the pond regularly scooped up his pietra dura art. In recent years, as that generation passes, their upper crust acquisitions occasionally pop up at auction, like this Fiaschi Sagittarius mosaic below, ex-collection of the late British aristocrat Lady Diana Cooper, Viscountess of Norwich (mosaic $3,250 hammer price, by Clars Auction Gallery, Dec. 2020. On the left is Lady Diana.)

 But a titled blue-blood running Richard’s Manhattan shop?  

I recently received an email from Mitchell Owens, former decorative arts editor at Architectural Digest. and currently a freelance writer, editor and design consultant who co-hosts style-related cultural tours internationally with the members-only luxury travel company Indagare. He is researching a biography of Pauline, Baroness de Rothschild, an American fashion designer and divorcee (nee Pauline Potter) who married Baron Philippe de Rothschild, owner of the fabled French winery Château Mouton Rothschild.

No, it wasn’t the Baroness who worked for Richard.

His research had turned up another American divorcee linked to the Baroness’ life – French Countess Reine de Roussy de Sales (nee Reine Tracy in New York City).  The author understood from his research that the Countess once managed Richard Blow’s Montici Gallery in New York City. His question: Could I confirm what she did there and how long she was associated with Montici?

Wow. A Countess managed Richard’s Manhattan gallery? Complete surprise. I spent three years researching Richard’s life and career, and not once had I come across her name.  

Could it be?

I started googling the Countess Reine

In short order, I had her New York Times obit. Jan. 19, 1966. Reine de Roussy de Sales, Marble Importer, Was 74.  The Times story noted that “The Countess, whose maiden name was Reine Tracy, operated the Montici Gallery at 156 East 64th St.”

Interesting…

Richard imported ‘marble” (mosaics) to America?

Check.

In the 1950s, Richard operated galleries in three different New York City locations -- was one on 64th?

Check. We’ve got a gallery brochure confirming it

The information was published in a reputable national newspaper known for vetting its facts?

Check.

OK. The Countess worked for Montici selling mosaics.

But how on earth did she end up working there?

I don’t know, but I can paint a plausible scenario: Our Countess Reine was a New York City native.  Her first husband was a Wall Street insurance broker with a house on Park Ave. So she was “well-bred,” with some access to the upper ranks.  Her aristocratic second husband, Count Raoul, was a famous French journalist and author who moved to the U.S. in 1932. Reine and her husband lived in Manhattan many years (he died there in 1942, during WWII). Reine was a socially registered part of New York society; and, like Richard, she moved in artistic circles – she and her husband were friends with famous artists like Cubist painter/sculptor Marcel Duchamp and renowned photographer Man Ray (iconic portraits of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, James Joyce, Peggy Guggenheim, etc.). Most importantly, Richard Blow’s second wife Marya Mannes was friends with Count Raoul, and Richard would have certainly have met them.  Post-WWII, Richard moved into mosaics in Italy, but he traveled constantly to New York to market his works.  When he decided to open his own Manhattan showroom, who better to help him launch it than someone he knew —the American-born, New York bred, titled French Countess familiar with the city’s rich art collectors? As for her, she was a widow at that point. Helping Richard import and market his art could be interesting, fun. Why not give it a whirl?

Count Raoul playing chess with artist Marcel Duchamp. Photo by Man Ray (1925).

It’s even possible Richard and Reine may have known each other for years. Both were Americans who got married in Paris in the 20s, just a year apart, and both weddings made the society pages. The wealthy American colony in the City of Light was small and tight, so it’s not a stretch to imagine they first crossed paths there.

In the end, how Reine de Roussy de Sales ended up working for Richard is all pure speculation on my part.

But did a French Countess really once manage Richard’s Manhattan Montici gallery?

Senza dubbio!

Michael Schmicker

P.S.  My thanks to Mitchell Owens for alerting me to this surprising story!