Robert Forrer

Forrer in the Glozel Museum in 1927

Robert Forrer (born January 9, 1866 in Meilen , † April 9, 1947 in Strasbourg ) was a Swiss collector , art dealer, art historian , archaeologist , museum director and monument protector .

Life

Robert Forrer came from a bourgeois family that can be traced back to the 16th century as one of the most important families in Winterthur . The family coat of arms shows a wild man and a pine tree , to which the family derives its name. Forrer's father was a silk merchant; possibly he laid the foundation for his son's lifelong interest in textiles. When he was six years old, his mother left the family for another man. Since then he has had a particularly close relationship with his two years younger sister and later poet Clara , with whom he grew up with his grandmother. This paid close attention to the education of her grandchildren. After father Forrer had lost his fortune in 1879 through stock speculation , Robert could not begin his intended study. He ended his father's intended career as an insurance agent after two months of training, as he was in no way suited to it. At the age of 17 he published his first work, a work on Swiss pile dwellings , the research of which was in high demand at the time.

Forrer now devoted himself to his desired career as an art collector and art dealer. In 1887 he married Emilie Hager from a Berlin fashion dynasty. Even before the wedding, his wife was a well-known couturier who earned a lot of money with her work. The couple moved to Strasbourg because Forrer thought it was the center of Europe. Emilie opened a studio there with several employees and supported Forrer in his collecting activities with her money. He traveled to Italy and also to Egypt for ten months; everywhere he increased his collection. The couple had two children. He gave his younger son Emil the second name Orgetorix . He belonged to the bourgeois establishment of Strasbourg, where he was also a member of the Société pour la Conservation des Monuments Historiques d'Alsace , for which he became more and more important over time. In 1909 he became head of the Municipal Museum of Archeology in the Palais Rohan , which he remained until he was replaced in 1945 by Jean-Jacques Hatt . After Emilie died in 1925, he married Philippine Loew, a long-time friend. His last work, a cultural history of the shoe, he dictated between 1939 and 1941. Before the war he fled to Switzerland and left his collection, apart from a few pieces, in Strasbourg. He had outsourced or sold the most important pieces. After the war he returned to Strasbourg, where he died in 1947.

Forrer's collection and research spectrum was immense. He always devoted himself to a topic until he had worked it out sufficiently for himself. After that he often sold the relevant collection and usually did not bother about the subject again. However, he refused to sell individual pieces and only sold entire collections, although he usually did good business. Unlike many collectors of his time, Forrer published the pieces in his collections and made them available to other researchers. He was the editor of the “Antiquitäten-Zeitschrift”, in which he not only published, but also gave various practical tips to other collectors. He also published many articles in other organs of the daily and specialist press. Forrer often broke new ground with his studies and devoted himself to previously unexplored groups of materials. He devoted himself to fabrics, from Coptic to modern textiles, weapons from all times - among other things, he owned 40 cannons -, coins, books - including incunabula , illustrations and monogram signatures - medieval art, furniture, prehistoric, early medieval and Egyptological artefacts and jewelry of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance . Forrer also carried out excavations himself. He was in contact with many researchers of his time. Through his frequent visits to Berlin, he also made friends with Wilhelm II . He was active in antiquity associations and set up the ground floor of his villa ( Villa Panopolitana ) like a museum, which served as an exhibition space for interested collectors and representatives of international museums. He set up his own study in the Gothic style , and set up his wife's boudoir in the Louis XVI style . a. His son Emil became an important ancient orientalist .

literature

• Bernadette Schnitzler: Robert Forrer (1866–1947). Archéologue, écrivain et antiquaire (= Publications de la Société Savante d'Alsace et des Régions de l'Est. Collection "Recherches et documents". 65). Société Savante d'Alsace et Musées de Strasbourg, Strasbourg 1999, ISBN 2-904920-24-2 .
• Andrea Rottloff : archaeologists (= The Famous . ). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2009, ISBN 978-3-8053-4063-2 , pp. 110-114.

Web links

Commons : Robert Forrer  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Robert Forrer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Hortensia von Roten: Forrer, Robert. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .