vator of Old Masters paintings who died this past December. Tavitian asked Bull for his help in finding artwork to decorate his homes. It was evident then— and even more so after he purchased his 12th painting— that most of his purchases were portraits. At a talk in 2019 at The Frick, Tavitian recalled that moment.“ I sat down in the kitchen, and I said to myself,‘ Okay, why do you buy portraits?’ My answer at the time, and still is, is that I like people, and so, naturally, I tend to gravitate towards portraits.”
Laura Fitzpatrick, Tavitian’ s longtime employee, helped him with the purchase process and recalls a couple of trips to TEFAF.“ He was just snatching up paintings like nobody’ s business,” she says.“ I remember trying to track down the vendors overseas, making sure our shipper was able to get them in time. Up until the end, he continued to collect.”
Meisinger points to two paintings that were his favorites: Jacopo da Pontormo’ s Portrait of a Boy( c. 1535 – 40 or later), oil on fired tile, which is now in the Clark’ s collection; and Giovanni Battista Moroni’ s Portrait of a Young Woman,( ca. 1575), oil on canvas, now in the collection of The Frick.
“ Even though I refer to myself as a collector— because everybody says I ' m a collector— often I feel that it ' s a misnomer for me,” Tavitian said during the discussion at The Frick.“ What I ' m after is creating a certain environment in which I live, and I couldn ' t care less if I ' m missing a particular type of painting or a particular sequence or whatever.”
George Wachter, Sotheby’ s chairman and co-worldwide head of Old Masters Paintings, recalls meeting Tavitian in 2004. At that time, Tavitian expressed to him that he wanted to buy Old Masters paintings and was eager to learn more. He slowly but surely started buying, with Wachter often on the phone advising him.
“ The way he decided was very interesting,” says Wachter.“ In a private sale, he would offer a price, and if they didn’ t agree, he wouldn’ t buy it. Auctions were different. He would bid until he bought it. The estimate might be $ 10,000, and he would buy it at $ 250,000. I would say,‘ Why did you bid that much?’‘ George, when I make a decision to buy something, it ' s mine. I just need to know the price.’”
Kathleen Morris, the Clark’ s Director of
May / June 2025 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // 15