Abraham Bredius

Abraham Bredius

Abraham Bredius (born April 18, 1855 in Amsterdam , † March 13, 1946 in Monaco ) was a Dutch art historian . He was director of the Mauritshuis in The Hague .

Life

Abraham Bredius was born in Amsterdam on April 18, 1855. His father, Johannes Jacobus Bredius, was the director of a factory that made gunpowder , so Abraham Bredius grew up prosperous. The family owned a collection of Dutch Golden Age paintings and Chinese porcelain . When Abraham Bredius was ten years old, his mother died. At first he wanted to become a pianist , but dropped out after three years because he did not see his chances in this profession. Abraham Bredius received his father's permission to travel to Italy in 1878 . There he got to know Italian art. In Florence Bredius met Wilhelm Bode , the director of the Berlin museums, who prompted him to focus his studies on the art of his home country. He focused on 17th century painting, which he already knew from his family, and traveled all over Europe to visit collections. In addition, he concentrated on archive work , which became a special feature of his work.

He published several articles in the Nederlandsche Spectator , which got him attention. Therefore, in 1880, he was appointed deputy director of the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst in The Hague, which five years later became part of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam . It was his job to catalog the collection there. Abraham Bredius made a name for himself as an expert on Jan Vermeer when he described an attribution by Théophile Thoré in a publication in 1883 as "A pseudo-Vermeer". In 1888 Bredius left the Rijksmuseum after the University of Giessen had awarded him an honorary doctorate . Another honorary doctorate was awarded to him in Krakow . Bredius was appointed director of the Mauritshuis in The Hague in 1889 and thus prevailed against Victor de Stuers , who was responsible for art in the Ministry of the Interior. In 1891 Cornelis Hofstede de Groot became his deputy, with whom Bredius had sometimes serious disputes, about which he informed the newspapers several times until 1896. In spite of everything, in 1895 both published a new catalog of the Mauritshuis's works. Under the direction of Bredius, the museum achieved international fame. He also added 30 acquisitions to the collection. In 1909 he left the Mauritshuis on the grounds that his health had deteriorated. His successor was Wilhelm Martin .

Abraham Bredius then continued his travels, during which he discovered, for example, the painting The Polish Rider by Rembrandt van Rijn . So he toured the United States in 1913 and 1914 . He also published articles in the newspaper Oud-Holland , of which he was co-editor. In 1922 Abraham Bredius moved to Monte Carlo to save taxes.

In 1937 he certified the counterfeit Christ at Emmaus by Han van Meegeren , that it was an authentic work by Jan Vermeer. While other art historians also attributed the forgery to Vermeer, Bredius published a very enthusiastic article in Burlington Magazine .

Bredius Museum

After his death on March 13, 1946, the city of The Hague acquired the Bredius private collection and maintains its own museum for the collection, the Bredius Museum , in the collector's former home .

Publications (selection)

• Jan Steen . 1927.
• Rembrandt . Vienna 1935 (catalog of Rembrandt's works, in which he reduced the number from 690 to 630).

Web links

• Literature by and about Abraham Bredius in the catalog of the German National Library
• Website of the Bredius Museum
• Biography on dictionaryofarthistorians.org