People who know him say that, out of frustration, he began to talk more frequently about retirement. In January, de Montebello, who is 71, had both knees replaced, and his recuperation was longer and more difficult than he had anticipated. This is an eternity in the museum world, where directors seldom last a decade anymore, and some observers thought that the April opening of the Met's splendid new Greek and Roman galleries, a project in which de Montebello had taken great interest, might be his swan song. You can hear him in all five languages, holding forth on Monet, Mantegna and Mayan sculpture, simply by renting an audio guide at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he has been the director for the last 30 years. What to most people is a lozenge, he calls a 'lo-SONJ.' He pronounces 'Renaissance' in a way that practically re-enacts it: 'hhren-ay-SSAHNSSS.' And he sounds just as good in French, Italian, Spanish and German. Philippe de Montebello - or, to give him his full Gallic handle, Guy-Philippe Henri Lannes de Montebello - has the most sonorous baritone in New York, with the mellowest vowels, the most sibilant s's.

Twilight of the sun king