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Léontis (also spelled Léontus), a first–generation artist, did a fine Annunciation
in the Episcopal Cathedral. He was known especially for his
sensitive and detailed renderings of birds. He was not the first Haitian
with such an interest: John James (née Jean–Jacques) Audubon, the
great American nautralist and orinthologist, was born in Haïti. I commissioned this work from the artist, an exceedingly nice man, in mid–1985 — but it did not come to me easily. Early in 1986 the broker who'd steered me to Léontis called to say the artist was in hospital and penniless. Could I send money for his medical bills? I did — I sent the other half of what I'd agreed to pay for the painting. (I suspect the money did not go to the hospital.) A short while later the broker called again. Léontis had died. I should come to Haïti immediately to get my painting. (This was the same 'broker' who nearly caused me to lose my Rigaud Benoit.) When I arrived the artist's widow offered me a work that was interesting — and the same size as the one I'd commissioned — but not 'my' Annunication. A Port–au–Prince gallery owner had seized that work, she said, to satisfy a debt. I went to the gallery. The owner agreed to exchange the two paintings if I would (1) give him half again as much as I had already paid Léontis for the work and also (2) buy one or more additional works. I wanted 'my' painting. I agreed; I paid. And I have not since bought a thing from that gallery. |
