De Montebello Gets His Native Land’s Highest Honor

I’ve heard of self-effacing, but this is ridiculous: I just found out from an AP story late last night that the Metropolitan Museum’s director, Philippe de Montebello, yesterday received France’s most prestigious award, the Legion of Honor medal. As far as I know, the Met issued no recent press announcement about the New York ceremony. (Or did I somehow miss it?)
France’s culture and media minister, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, was on hand to medal Philippe at the French Consulate in New York. (AP got the story from “a transcript provided by the consulate.”) Now the peripatetic minister is off to Abu Dhabi!
Speaking of peripatetic, I’m journeying to a press preview at the Met this morning. If I see the honoree, I must congratulate him!