Lambert van Meerten

The Museum van Meerten in Delft

Lambert van Meerten (born July 29, 1842 in Delft ; † April 1, 1904 there ) was a Dutch art and antiques collector. He founded the Lambert van Meerten Museum .

Van Meerten came from a very wealthy family of manufacturers who ran a distillery in Delft . His fortune gave him the opportunity to act as a patron of art and to build up a collection of art and antiques from furniture, glass, porcelain, books, weapons, paintings, wood carvings, Delft tiles and Delft faience. Van Meerten was forward-looking insofar as such a museum did not exist in Holland at the time (that Paul Tétar van Elven was building a similar collection at almost the same time in Delft, it only became apparent after his death) and he also collected objects that weed out others in the course of conversion or renovation measures, such as old tiles, wood paneling, glazing or chimney cladding.

In 1892 he had a spacious mansion built in the Neo-Renaissance style in the old town of Delft on the Oude Delft , in which numerous building elements came from his collection and which he called "Oud Holland" (Old Holland) and which he not only as a residence, but also intended as a kind of study center for art lovers and students of the Polytechnic School (the forerunner of the Technical University of Delft ). The house was designed by the architects Adolf le Comte and Jan Schouten, who became friends of van Meerten.

In his will, van Meerten bequeathed the house and its art treasures to the city of Delft with the requirement to set up a museum. In 1901, three years before his death, van Meerten went bankrupt because of his passion for collecting , so that his legacy was in danger. Adolf le Comte and Jan Schouten then founded the association “vereniging Huis Lambert van Meerten” in order to preserve the legacy. At the foreclosure auction, the association acquired a large part of the facility and was able to purchase the property itself shortly after van Meerten's death.

In 1907 the association transferred the house and furnishings to the city of Delft. The museum opened its doors for the first time on October 16, 1909. Adolf le Comte acted as museum director in the first few years. Jan Schouten bequeathed an extensive collection of tiles to the museum.

The Lambert van Meerten museum attracts around 20,000 visitors every year.

Web links

• Museum and portrait of Lambert van Meertens on the joint website for the museums in Delft (Dutch and English)