Wilhelm Brandes (banker)

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Heinrich Schmidt-Pecht : Portrait of Wilhelm Brandes. Charcoal and colored chalks, 71 × 53 cm, Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz

Wilhelm Brandes (born August 7, 1839 in Copenhagen , † February 11, 1907 in Konstanz ) was a Danish bank director, privateer, social benefactor and art collector.

Life

Wilhelm Brandes was born as the son of the feather and hair filler manufacturer Jacob Brandes (* 1799, † December 5, 1845 in Copenhagen) and the Jewess Rebecka Brandes, b. Bendix (born March 21, 1807 in Copenhagen, † March 10, 1861 in Copenhagen), born. Jacob Brandes' company went bankrupt in 1842, so it is likely that he left his widow and two children Wilhelm and Emma Rosalia (born April 14, 1843 in Copenhagen; † 1891 in Graz) no great inheritance in 1845.

Little is known about Wilhelm Brandes' career. Before moving to Konstanz in 1876/77 to take up the post of director of the local branch of the Rheinische Creditbank , he lived in Mannheim . His maternal uncle, Emmanuel Bendix (born April 7, 1815 in Copenhagen; † 1880), was an established banker in Berlin. It is possible that Wilhelm Brandes received his banking and money changer training with him. When Emmanuel Bendix died in 1880, his ten nephews and nieces inherited 200,000 crowns each.

In Constance, Wilhelm Brandes lived in Zumstein's house on Seestrasse until 1894, and then on Oberen Laube. He had a close friendship with the painter and director of the municipal Wessenberg gallery Heinrich Schmidt-Pecht , who portrayed him several times. Brandes remained unmarried and childless; he loved traveling and was a passionate collector of art. In 1907 he bequeathed his collection of graphics, hand drawings, paintings, photographs and embroidery to the city of Constance.

Collections

The size of the first collection that Wilhelm Brandes put together can no longer be reconstructed. In 1894 he went on holiday for Christmas and instructed his caretaker to briefly heat the room in which he kept the Rembrand etchings and other works of art every morning and only go out when she had put out the fire. On December 26, 1894, the attendant forgot to put out the fire, and the Louis-seize- era house burned down completely. The collection of paintings , miniatures , hand drawings and graphics was destroyed. After the insurance replaced the financial loss, Brandes began collecting again.

In the second collection, which Brandes built up over twelve years, he initially concentrated on hand drawings by old masters , later also works by contemporary artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Brandes did not prefer any epoch or school , but apparently collected according to his own taste and offerings on the art market . Important suppliers and advisers were the art dealers Galerie HG Gutekunst in Stuttgart, CG Boerner in Leipzig, Amsler & Ruthardt in Berlin, de Vries in Amsterdam and others in Cologne and Munich. Brandes also acquired additional works for his collection at the exhibitions of the Munich Artists' Cooperative and those of the Munich Secession from 1901 to 1905. He maintained relationships with Dr. Hermann Smidt, doctor at the Bellevue sanatorium in Kreuzlingen and temporarily member of the board of the Konstanzer Kunstverein , as well as the district court director Carl Eller in Karlsruhe , who procured works from private collections for him. Between 1901 and 1906, Brandes also acquired over 50 artwork for the title pages of Jugend magazine . In some cases he also bought directly from artists, including Ludwig von Hofmann , Friedrich Kallmorgen , Friedrich August von Kaulbach , Walter Leistikow , Gustav Schönleber , Hans Richard von Volkmann , Wilhelm Volz and Ludwig Knaus .

Brandes recorded the new additions to the collection in two large notebooks, which he divided into Old and New Masters. Within the notebooks he arranged alphabetically according to the names of the artists and at the same time assigned each new work the next free number in the total inventory. In addition, he noted the title or subject of the drawing, sometimes also the technique, signature , date , special features such as stamp or art historical findings, purchase price, auction and the art dealer or seller. Some of the former attributions are no longer tenable today. B. Works that were previously assigned to Albrecht Altdorfer , Hans Baldung Grien , Pieter Bruegel , Adam Elsheimer , Palma Giovane , Jacopo Pontormo , Jacob van Ruisdael , Tizian , Adriaen van de Velde and Martin de Vos .

Three main areas of collection stand out among the Old Masters:

  1. Dutch and Italians of the 16th and 17th centuries, including Hendrick Avercamp , Nicolaes Berchem , Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde , Jan de Bisschop , Hans Bol , Gerard Ter Borch , Jan Both , Pieter Bout, Salomon de Bray , Adriaen Brouwer , Aelbert Cuyp , Lambert Doomer , Gerard Dou , Karel Dujardin , Cornelis Dusart , Gerbrandt van den Eeckhout , Allaert van Everdingen , Barend Fabritius , Abraham Genoels , Johannes Glauber, Hendrick Goudt , Jan van Goyen , Meindest Hobbema , Jan van Huysum , Albert Jansz. Klomp , Jacob Koninck , Johan le Ducq , Jan Lievens , Adam Frans van der Meulen , Jan Miense Molenaer , Pieter de Molijn , Frederik de Moucheron , Isaac de Moucheron , Jan Harmensz. Muller , Caspar Netscher , Jan van Nickelen , Adriaen van Ostade , Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn , Daniel Constantijn van Renesse , Peter Paul Rubens , Cornelis Saftleven , Herman Saftleven , Pieter Cornelisz. van Slingeland , David Teniers , Lucas van Uden , Lodewijk de Vadder , Gerardus van Veen , Jan Verbeeck the Elder. Ä. , Cornelis Visscher and Federico Barocci , Fra Bartolommeo , Giambologna , Il Guercino , Il Pordenone and Giulio Romano ,
  2. German artists of the 16th and 17th centuries, including Albrecht Dürer , Johann Heinrich Roos and Johann Melchior Roos , also some ascribed and unsecured works,
  3. French artists of the 17th and 18th centuries including Charles Le Brun , Ètienne Jeaurat , Nicolas Lancret , Claude Lorrain , Hyacinthe Rigaud, and Antoine Watteau .

In addition to these old masters, other artists from the 18th and 19th centuries are represented: Francesco Bartolozzi , Gijsbertus Johannus van den Berg , Daniel Chodowiecki , Joseph Franz Freiherr von Goez , Jan Hulswit , Ferdinand Kobell , Hendrik Kobell , Karel La Fargue , Cornelis van Noorde , Johannes Huibert Prins , Andreas Schelfhout , Martinus Schouman , Jacob van Strij and Jan Verbruggen .

Around 90% of the sheets of Neuer Meister come from German, Swiss or Austrian artists, but Italian and Dutch people can also be found in the collection, which speaks for a wide range of collectors' interests. The collection includes: Julius Adam , Frans Althaus , Hermann Baisch , Hans von Bartels , Paul Baum , Max Bernuth , Carl von Blaas , Anton Braith , Ferdinand Brauer , Georg Heinrich Büttner , Walther Caspari , Hans Christiansen , Julius Diez , Ludwig Dill , Georg Ernest Dodge , Désiré Donny , Hans am Ende , Anselm Feuerbach , Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia , Hans Garnjobst , Friedrich Gauermann , Paul Gavarni , Eduard von Gebhardt , Walter Georgi , Anton Graff , Otto Greiner , Carlos Grethe , Eduard Grützner , Jean-Antoine Gudin , Hugo von Habermann , Max Hagen , Edmund Harburger , Karl Hartmann , Franz Hein , Hubert Herkomer , Paul Hey , Paul Hoecker , Charles Emile Jacque , Georg Jakobides , Angelo Jank , Leopold Graf von Kalckreuth , Stanislaus Graf von Kalckreuth , Wilhelm von Kaulbach , Paul Wilhelm Keller-Reutlingen , Max Klinger , Oswald Kresse , Peter Severin Kröyer , Sandor von Kubinyi , Sir Edwin Landseer , Arthur Langhammer , Charles-Lucien Leandre , Wilhelm Leibl , Franz von Lenbach , Maximilian Liebenwein , Ernst Liebermann , Max Liebermann , Ludwig von Löfftz , Fritz Mackensen , Hans Makart , Carl von Marr , Wilhelm Marstrand , Gabriel von Max , Ernest Meissonier , Adolph Menzel , Carl Theodor Meyer-Basel , Adolf Münzer , Michael Neher , Adolf Oberländer , Emil Orlik , Georgius van Os , Bernhard Pankok , August von Pettenkofen , Bruno Piglhein , Karl Theodor von Piloty , Walter Püttner , Heinrich Richard Reder , Franziska Reuss, Ludwig Richter , Paul Rieth , Théodor van Rysselberghe , Attilio Sacchetto , Adolf Schreyer , Moritz von Schwind , Carl Spitzweg , Karl Stauffer-Bern , Franz von Stuck , Pierre Tetar van Elven , Emil Thoma , Hans Thoma , Eduard Thöny , Jan Toorop , Otto Tragy , Constant Troyon , Otto Ubbelohde , Fritz von Uhde , Benjamin Vautier , Wouterus Verschuur , Friedrich Voltz , Friedrich Wahle , Robert Weise , Sion Longley Wenban , Josef Wenglein , Rudolf Wilke , Josef Willroider , Ludwig Willroider , Josef Rudolf Witzel , Jo sef Wopfner , Ernst Zimmermann , Heinrich von Zügel and Ludwig von Zumbusch as well as those named under 2.

estate

Heinrich Schmidt-Pecht: Wilhelm Brandes in the snow. Pencil and opaque white on gray-green paper, 29.3 × 23.2 cm, Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz

In his will, Wilhelm Brandes set several conditions regarding the handling of his estate. For the use of his cash assets by the city of Konstanz, he stipulated that the money should be used to support children of poor parents. No differences in denomination should be made in the distribution, and no political or denominational party was allowed to have a decisive influence on the distribution. At the end of 1907, the Baden Ministry of the Interior in Karlsruhe approved the establishment of a Brandes Foundation to support destitute parents; the foundation's capital at that time was 120,000 marks.

In his will, Brandes gave the city of Constance the choice of how to deal with the collection, which at that time comprised a little more than 450 graphics as well as some paintings, embroidery and photographs: Either an auction should take place through the art dealer HG Gutekunst in Stuttgart, The proceeds should be used for charity or a permanent exhibition should be set up by the city. In Brandes' vision, the works should be exhibited in a separate room under supervision and be accessible to the interested public. The city decided to keep the collection and began renovating the Wessenberghaus in 1908/09. A new exhibition hall and a reading room were built, and an existing room was refurnished with several cupboards and desk cabinets for storing the collection and henceforth called the “Brandes Room”. The embroidery that Brandes had brought back from his travels was probably integrated into the textile collection of the Städtisches Rosgartenmuseum. In the 1930s, a drawing by Allart van Everdingen and another Dutch sheet were exchanged for a hand drawing and a watercolor by Hans Thoma , which was extremely popular on the art market at the time. In addition, the pieces of furniture in the Brandes room were soon used to store other works, which soon led to the various parts of the urban collection being mixed up.

Michael Bringmann tried to meet Brandes' testamentary demands in 2000 with the publication of an inventory catalog that has since been out of print. A permanent exhibition of the Brandes collection is not possible for conservation reasons. The Brandes collection is now an important part of the collection of the Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz.

Exhibitions

Public exhibitions of the fire-collection occurred in 1908, 1951, 1952, 1962, 1974 and 2000. The Südkurier - Editor Werner Schenkendorfstraße asked about the publicity exhibitions of 1951 and 1952, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for information on the origin Brandes. The Royal Danish Embassy forwarded its research through the press department, but without citing the source.

Michael Bringmann began working on the collection in 1983 and published an inventory catalog for the first time in 2000. The exhibition “From Rembrandt to Menzel. Masterworks of the Art of Drawing from the Brandes Collection ”was on view from November 25, 2000 to January 28, 2001 in the Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz, then from February 25 to April 29, 2001 in the Palatinate Museum of Heidelberg and from May 18 until July 9, 2001 in the Nordico Museum of the City of Linz.

  • October 11, 2003 to January 11, 2004: Masterpieces of the art of drawing from the Wilhelm Brandes collection. Part III: 19th century drawings. Municipal Wessenberg Gallery Constance.

literature

  • Michael Bringmann (Ed.): From Rembrandt to Menzel. Masterpieces of the Art of Drawing - The Brandes Collection. Inventory catalog on the occasion of the exhibition “From Rembrandt to Menzel. Masterpieces of the Art of Drawing from the Brandes Collection ”, November 25, 2000 - January 28, 2001 in the Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz, Heidelberg 2000.
  • Barbara Stark: Wilhelm Brandes. New insights into his person and his collection. In: Martina Bergmann-Gaadt, Petra Grimbach, Sylvia Laun, Klaus T. Weber (eds.): “It's a wide field”. Festschrift for Michael Bringmann on his 65th birthday. Shaker, Aachen 2005, ISBN 3-8322-4659-2 , pp. 249-260.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Bringmann: "The collector and his legacy", in: ders. (Ed.): From Rembrandt to Menzel. Masterworks of the Art of Drawing - The Brandes Collection, inventory catalog on the occasion of the exhibition “From Rembrandt to Menzel. Masterpieces of the Art of Drawing from the Brandes Collection ”, November 25, 2000 - January 28, 2001 in the Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz, Heidelberg 2000, pp. 9–17, p. 9.
  2. ↑ Letter from the Danish Embassy to the Municipal Transport Office in Konstanz, forwarded on March 30, 1953 by Werner Schenkendorf to Oberbaurat Hübinger (then administrator of the Wessenberg Gallery), quoted in in: Barbara Stark: “Wilhelm Brandes. New insights into his person and his collection ”, in: Martina Bergmann-Gaadt u. a. (Ed.): "It is a wide field". Festschrift for Michael Bringmann on his 65th birthday, Aachen 2005, pp. 249–260, pp. 251–255.
  3. ↑ Letter from the Danish Embassy to the Municipal Transport Office in Konstanz, forwarded on March 30, 1953 by Werner Schenkendorf to Oberbaurat Hübinger (then administrator of the Wessenberg Gallery), quoted in in: Barbara Stark: “Wilhelm Brandes. New insights into his person and his collection ”, in: Martina Bergmann-Gaadt u. a. (Ed.): "It is a wide field". Festschrift for Michael Bringmann on his 65th birthday, Aachen 2005, p. 249–260, p. 255.
  4. ↑ Michael Bringmann: "The collector and his legacy", in: ders. (Ed.): From Rembrandt to Menzel. Masterworks of the Art of Drawing - The Brandes Collection, inventory catalog on the occasion of the exhibition “From Rembrandt to Menzel. Masterpieces of the Art of Drawing from the Brandes Collection ”, November 25, 2000 - January 28, 2001 in the Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz, Heidelberg 2000, p. 9 and Barbara Stark:“ Wilhelm Brandes. New insights into his person and his collection ”, in: Martina Bergmann-Gaadt u. a. (Ed.): "It is a wide field". Festschrift for Michael Bringmann on the occasion of his 65th birthday, Aachen 2005, p. 255.
  5. ↑ Michael Bringmann: "The collector and his legacy", in: ders. (Ed.): From Rembrandt to Menzel. Masterworks of the Art of Drawing - The Brandes Collection, inventory catalog on the occasion of the exhibition “From Rembrandt to Menzel. Masterworks of the Art of Drawing from the Brandes Collection ”, November 25, 2000 - January 28, 2001 in the Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz, Heidelberg 2000, pp. 9–17, p. 331.
  6. ↑ Inventory catalog in: Michael Bringmann (Ed.): From Rembrandt to Menzel. Masterworks of the Art of Drawing - The Brandes Collection, inventory catalog on the occasion of the exhibition “From Rembrandt to Menzel. Masterpieces of the Art of Drawing from the Brandes Collection ”, November 25, 2000 - January 28, 2001 in the Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz, Heidelberg 2000.
  7. ↑ Michael Bringmann (Ed.): From Rembrandt to Menzel. Masterworks of the Art of Drawing - The Brandes Collection, inventory catalog on the occasion of the exhibition “From Rembrandt to Menzel. Masterpieces of the Art of Drawing from the Brandes Collection ”, November 25, 2000 - January 28, 2001 in the Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz, Heidelberg 2000 p. 11 f. and Barbara Stark: “Wilhelm Brandes. New insights into his person and his collection ”, in: Martina Bergmann-Gaadt u. a. (Ed.): "It is a wide field". Festschrift for Michael Bringmann on his 65th birthday, Aachen 2005, p. 255 f.
  8. ↑ Masterpieces of the Art of Drawing from the Wilhelm Brandes Collection, Part III: Drawings of the 19th Century. Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz (Konstanz), accessed on April 12, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Brandes, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish bank director and art collector
DATE OF BIRTH August 7, 1839
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 1907
Place of death Constancy