Gustav Christian Schwabe

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Gustav Christian Schwabe (born May 10, 1813 in Hamburg , † January 10, 1897 in London ) was a merchant, shipowner and art patron. He donated his valuable collection of paintings to the Kunsthalle Hamburg and thus initiated the expansion and modernization of the museum.

Life

Schwabe was born in 1813 as the son of a Jewish merchant who converted with his entire family to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1819. Gustav Schwabe learned the trade like his father and joined in 1834 as a partner in the trading house Boustead, Schwabe and Company, which was renamed at the same time . In 1838 Schwabe moved to Liverpool , where he joined Edward Little's renowned commission agent company . Little died the following year. It is believed that Schwabe inherited him. The wool trade was one of the focal points of Schwabe's business activities. Schwabe then entered into other lucrative business partnerships, including with Liverpool-based John Bibby & Sonsand other shipping companies as well as the Belfast shipyard Harland & Wolff . Their co-owner Gustav Wilhelm Wolff was a nephew of Schwabe. In 1867 Schwabe and business partner Thomas Ismay acquired the bankrupt White Star Line, whereby Schwabe cleverly linked his holdings with one another: The newly founded White Star Line bought its ships exclusively from Harland & Wolff and successfully took on the hard-fought competition in commercial passenger shipping on the North Atlantic Ocean. Route on. In addition, Schwabe was one of the financiers of the shipping company Albert Ballin , the general director of the Hamburg-American Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG).

Schwabe later lived mainly in London. He gained a reputation as a passionate art collector and patron. Having become very prosperous, he retired in 1893.

Schwabe and the Hamburger Kunsthalle

In the autumn of 1883 Schwabe negotiated with the Hamburger Kunsthalle in order to donate his collection of 128 paintings by English artists to it. In addition, he donated 6,000 pounds (then 120,000 marks ) for an extension to be able to show the collection as a whole. In recognition of this, Schwabe was given honorary citizenship of Hamburg in November 1886 . When the expanded art gallery opened in December 1886, it had also hired Alfred Lichtwark , the first professional director, under whom it gained national prestige.

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personal data
SURNAME Schwabe, Gustav Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Merchant, shipowner and art patron
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH January 10, 1897
Place of death London