Siegfried Wedells

Siegfried Wedells (born October 17, 1848 in Hamburg , † June 4, 1919 in Bad Salzschlirf ) was a German entrepreneur and art collector from Hamburg.

Life

Siegfried Wedells was born under the family name Wedeles. Initially belonging to Judaism, he was baptized on December 31, 1871 in St. Petri. Many wealthy Hamburg Jews took this step in the course of the 19th century. In 1890 Wedeles had his Jewish family name changed to Wedells.

Siegfried Wedell's tomb, Ohlsdorf cemetery

Wedells made a substantial fortune through wholesale business . As a result of this fortune, he became an important art collector and also the owner of the town house in Hamburg's Harvestehude district, designed by town hall architect Martin Haller in 1895 . Wedells is considered one of the greatest donors and art patrons of the Hanseatic city of Hamburg of his time.

Siegfried Wedell's grave is located near the water tower on Cordesallee in Hamburg's central cemetery in Ohlsdorf at grid square N 23 / O 23. It was renovated from 2002 to 2003 with a donation and grants from the city. The grave monument created by the sculptor Walther Schmarje bears the inscription: Everything flows out of me, returns to me. As death as life, human suffering and happiness .

collection

In the absence of personal heirs, the successful businessman appointed the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg as heir. Wedell's extremely valuable estate consisted of an extensive collection of paintings by old and new masters, such as Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck . This collection of paintings was divided against his last will. Parts were sold, other paintings were exhibited in the Hamburger Kunsthalle , which he did not particularly appreciate . The picture collection consisted of 92 paintings, which on November 13, 1954 were valued at DM 891,900.00. In addition, his legacy included valuable sculptures and sculptures, precious interiors and a considerable amount of cash at the time of 400,000 marks.

"House Wedells"

The "Wedells House" planned by Martin Haller

The house, completed in 1896, was to be preserved as a whole, including its collection and furnishings, and made accessible to the public, in accordance with Siegfried Wedells' last will. The ground floor rooms were opened to visitors in 1922 under the name Stiftung Haus Wedells . However, only part of the collection was shown - primarily works of Dutch and Italian painting. At the same time, the "Wedells House" was used by the Hamburg Senate for representation purposes and as a guest house. Due to too few visitors, it was closed to the public in 1936 and only used as a guest house. After May 8, 1945, the "Wedell House" was seized by the Allied forces. In 1948 it was returned to the Hamburg Senate . From 1949 the Senate used the building for representational purposes, from 1951 to 1965 as a guest house. During this time the house accommodated well-known guests such as the Federal President Theodor Heuss , Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer , the composer Paul Hindemith and the painter Oskar Kokoschka . It is currently used by the insurance company HanseMerkur as the location of the headquarters.

Honors

Despite his very generous donation, Wedells fell into oblivion. In order to preserve his memory and to thank him posthumously, a street was renamed after him in 2003. Since then, “Haus Wedells” has had the house number “Siegfried-Wedells-Platz 1” (previously: Neue Rabenstrasse 31).

literature

• Svante Domizlaff, Michael Pasdzior: People and their houses in front of the dam gate ; Delius Klasing Verlag, 2001
• Ulrich Luckhardt, Uwe M. Schneede, Karin Schick: Private treasures: About collecting art in Hamburg until 1933 , Verlag Christians, 2001

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 611-19 / 186 Siegfried Wedell's Testament, 1883-1927 (inventory). In: recherche.staatsarchiv.hamburg.de. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
2. ↑ Architecture as an Expression of Political Sentiment , page 642
3. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , [1] . 
4. ↑ HanseMerkur , hansemerkur.de