Sophia Adriana de Bruijn

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Thérèse Schwartze : Sophia Adriana de Bruijn (1816–1890)

Sophia Adriana de Bruijn , married Sophia Adriana Lopez Suasso-de Bruijn (born January 21, 1816 in Amsterdam , † March 4, 1890 ibid ), was a Dutch art collector , patroness and museum founder.

life and work

Sophia Adriana de Bruijn was born in Amsterdam in 1816 as the daughter of a wealthy family from South Holland.

During her life, she built up a large collection of jewelry, clothing, paintings, coins, clocks, bronzes, antiques and curiosities . In 1860 she married the Dutch nobleman Augustus Pieter Lopez Suasso in England, whom she had already met in 1841 and whom she could only marry after the death of her father-in-law Diego Lopez Suasso.

The husband was a member of the Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam and converted to Catholicism in order to be able to marry her. The wealthy, childless couple traveled a lot through Europe. a. through England, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Russia. They brought back numerous art treasures from their travels. Sophia Adriana de Brujn specialized in the collection and documentation of silver jewelry, watches and silver boxes, which she kept in large cupboards and showcases in her home in Amsterdam. Your supplier for unusual and unusual jewelry was the jeweler H. Martens am Rokin.

After the death of her husband in 1877, she continued collecting with the financial means from her inheritance. On July 1, 1887, she bought the entire inventory of the Museum Het Broekerhuis , which was located on Amstelveenseweg, for 25,000 guilders . She had large pieces of furniture from this museum transferred to an empty building at Nieuwe Herengracht 43, which after her death was to be converted into a retirement home for women of different denominations . Smaller pieces from the Broekerhuis were brought to the house at Kloveniersburgwal 76.

Stedelijk (Suasso) Museum in Amsterdam

The art treasures and their house, which they will and testament , leaving the city of Amsterdam later formed the foundation for the (Suasso-) Stedelijk Museum . Her late husband had already bequeathed his coin collection to the city. In her will, Sophia Lopez Suasso stipulated that her art and jewelry collection should be on public display in her home on Kloveniersburgwal. In addition to art treasures, the city also bequeathed an extensive collection of clothing with 70 women's and men's clothing, 35 hats, 80 pairs of shoes and 200 fashion accessories. Since the house was not suitable for the public, the city of Amsterdam decided to build a new museum with the inheritance and a donation from the van Eeghen family. The Suasso Stedelijk Museum opened on September 14, 1895. In addition to the donor's collection, which was initially shown in four rooms, the interior of demolished canal houses was also integrated into the new museum. Later modern art that was not included in the Rijksmuseum , such as the van Gogh paintings, was shown in the (Suasso-) Stedelijk Museum.

In 1901 the curator of the Stedelijk Museum, Jan Eduard van Someren Brand , criticized the quality of the 3900 objects in the collection. In addition to the lack of a systematic approach, he criticized the founder's artistic expertise. In his opinion, the interior of the Broekerhuis she bought was a forgery .

Mahogany room from the Suasso Museum, now in the Rijksmuseum

In 1971 it was decided to temporarily outsource the historical rooms and the Lopez Suasso collection until suitable rooms can be found to present the collection. Individual parts such as a mahogany paneled room from 1748 were built into the Rijksmuseum.

The extensive collection was kept by the Sophia Augusta Foundation and administered in the Amsterdam Museum . Today the unique collection is rated much more positively from a historical point of view. However, no way has yet been found to show the collection publicly. Occasionally, when the Stedelijk Museum celebrates an anniversary, the donors and founders of the museum are remembered.

In 2018, part of Sophia Lopez Suasso's extensive jewelry and watch collection was exhibited in the Cromhouthuis in Amsterdam.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sophia Adriana de Bruijn (1816-1890). Retrieved March 8, 2020 (Dutch).
  2. ^ Netherlands Institute for Art History: Art collector Sophia Adriana Lopez Suasso-de Bruijn. Netherlands Institute for Art History, accessed March 8, 2020 (Dutch).
  3. ↑ a b c d e Ons Amsterdam | The forgotten stichtster van het Stedelijk Museum. onsamsterdam.nl, accessed March 8, 2020 (Dutch).
  4. ↑ a b c Jonkheer Augustus Pieter Lopez Suasso. joodsamsterdam.nl, accessed March 8, 2020 (Dutch).
  5. ↑ a b c Goud! Horloges en jewels van Sophia Lopez Suasso. Retrieved March 8, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Nieuwe Herengracht 43. Accessed March 8, 2020 (nl-NL).
  7. ^ DBNL: Elsevier's Geïllustreerd Maandschrift. Jaargang 11 dbnl. Retrieved March 8, 2020 (Dutch).

Web links

Commons : Sophia Adriana de Bruijn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Bruijn, Sophia Adriana de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lopez Suasso-de Bruyn, Sophia Adriana (married name); Lopez Suasso, Sophia (married name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch art collector, patron and museum founder
DATE OF BIRTH January 21, 1816
PLACE OF BIRTH Amsterdam
DATE OF DEATH March 4, 1890
Place of death Amsterdam