Wilhelm Christian Benecke from Gröditzberg

Franz Krüger : Benecke on horseback

Franz Krüger : Benecke with family

Coat of arms from 1829

Wilhelm Christian Benecke von Gröditzberg (born December 12, 1779 in Frankfurt (Oder) as Wilhelm Christian Benecke , † June 4, 1860 in Berlin) was a Prussian banker, merchant, landowner and art collector.

He had been working for his two uncles' trading house, the Benecke brothers , since 1793 . After her death in 1806 he became head of the trading house and in 1807 a citizen of Berlin . He became a city councilor there in 1809. In 1812 he was the founder and first director of the Berlin Fire Insurance Company and in 1815 bought the Kgl. Prussian main timber administration. In business he worked for the Prussian state against the Napoleonic continental blockade. In 1820 he issued a government loan for Norway . Their success prevented an impending national bankruptcy and the recently acquired sovereignty over Sweden could be maintained.

From 1820, Benecke was a close business partner of Benjamin Wegner . In 1822 Wegner bought the Modum blue color factory in Norway for Benecke (over 70%) and in his own name. Wegner moved to Norway and managed the company until 1849. At Wegner's instigation, Benecke acquired the Hafslund estate with important forest holdings and sawmills together with Wegner, the statesman Hermann von Wedel-Jarlsberg and Grüning & Co. Benecke and Wegner also acquired Hassel Ironworks in Norway (50% each).

Around 1819 Benecke founded the Patent Paper Factory in Berlin, the first with English machines on the continent. The Englishman Joseph Corty took over the management. In 1823 he was one of the founding members of the Berliner Kassenverein . Also in 1823, Benecke acquired the rule of Gröditzberg (5000 ha) with the historic Gröditzburg from the Middle Ages and the Gröditzberg Castle in the district of Goldberg / Silesia from the Counts of Hochberg .

With a certificate from the King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm III. , from April 4, 1829, Berlin, he was raised to the Prussian nobility as Benecke von Gröditzberg . He had previously been awarded the 3rd Class Red Eagle Order by the King .

Together with Benjamin Wegner he sold the painting collection of the English merchant Edward Solly to the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. This collection became the mainstay of the Berlin Gemäldegalerie . Benecke von Gröditzberg was u. a. Patron of the painters Franz Krüger and Louis Ferdinand von Rayski . Benecke's portraits, created by the aforementioned, are in the Hamburger Kunsthalle , in the Alte Nationalgalerie and are family-owned.

Benecke von Gröditzberg owned next to the Lordship of Gröditzberg in Berlin the Palais Unter den Linden 78 (corner of Pariser Platz, opposite the former Palais Graf Redern, today Hotel Adlon ), the house at Wilhelmstrasse 67 , which he acquired alongside paintings from the bankruptcy estate of Edward Solly , as well as properties and houses on Pichelswerder .

He also owned an extensive collection of paintings, from which 223 oil paintings were auctioned after his death by Th. Müller in 1861 and in 1876 by Rudolf Lepke, both in Berlin. So z. B. the painting "Tobias and the Angel" by Carl Begas the Elder. Ä. , which was auctioned at Müller by Kommerzienrat Th. Flatau in 1861 and who gave it to the Alte Nationalgalerie in 1864 (lost during the war), from the Benecke von Gröditzberg collection. Likewise, the portrait of the poet Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim by Georg Friedrich Adolph Schöner , which is now in the Gleim House in Halberstadt.

One of the last more important paintings in his private collection - a signed and dated seascape by Willem van de Velde the Younger , which he had acquired from the Edward Solly collection - was restored "to death" in the restoration workshop of one of the most renowned European museums. In a 15-year trial in the first instance, interested parties were able to cover up the disaster with the help of the judiciary.

In 1829, Benecke acquired the glass window collection of the Swiss poet Johann Martin Usteri , consisting of 156 windows from the 15th to 18th centuries, which is now largely in the National Museum Zurich .

The Königsstädtisches Theater in Berlin was co-founded by him.

His grave is in the church in Gröditzberg.

family

On February 4, 1808, Benecke von Gröditzberg married Marie-Luise Du Titre (* October 1, 1786 - December 31, 1875), daughter of Madame Du Titre , with whom he had several children:

• Rudolf Wilhelm (August 10, 1809 - December 9, 1832)
• Elisabeth Helene (* July 11, 1810; †?) ⚭ 1833 Johann Friedrich Le Maistre (* January 6, 1790; † November 23, 1874), Saxon Real Privy Councilor
• Klara Amielie Karoline (February 20, 1812 - September 1, 1899) ⚭ 1844 (divorced 1855) Ernst Julis Arnold von Schack (March 8, 1813 - January 13, 1897), Legation Councilor
• Richard August (* April 21, 1814 - October 21, 1868) ⚭ 1862 Hedwig von Rosen (* January 5, 1845 - September 6, 1870)
• Rosalie Cecilie (* October 5, 1816; † April 4, 1889) ⚭ Maximilian Theodor von Schlegel (* July 10, 1809; † February 18, 1863)
• Wilhelm Georg (born November 24, 1817)

literature

• Wilhelm Christian Benecke von Gröditzberg: Memories from my life, especially regarding my mercantile circumstances, for my descendants and heirs, Gröditzberg, February 11, 1851 . Manuscript, typewriter transcript around 1920.
• Th. Müller auction catalog, Berlin 1861, Rudolf Lepke auction catalog, Berlin 1876.
• Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Documentation of Losses, Volume II, Berlin 2001, p. 20.
• Silesian art collections, Wilhelm Christian Benecke von Gröditzberg (1779–1860).
• Hugo Rachel u. Paul Wallich, Berlin merchants and capitalists, Vol. III, Berlin 1939
• Klaus B. Bartels, Paper Manufacture in Germany, Berlin 2011.
• Handbook of the Prussian Nobility, Volume 1, 1892, p.53f

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Berl shares. Feuer-Vers.Anstalt from 1962 on "Google Effektenwelt"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 13, 2009  
2. ^ Johann Friedrich Le Maistre in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved December 8, 2018.