Abraham Bredius was a Dutch art collector, art historian and museum curator.

Life

He travelled widely visiting various art collections in his youth, and worked at the Dutch Museum for History and Art before becoming director from 1889 to 1909 of the Mauritshuis

Mauritshuis

The Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis is an art museum in The Hague, the Netherlands. Previously the residence of count John Maurice of Nassau, it now has a large art collection, including paintings by Dutch painters such as Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jan Steen, Paulus Potter and Frans...

. He became a Rembrandt expert who had many differences of opinion with Cornelis Hofstede de Groot

Cornelis Hofstede de Groot

Cornelis Hofstede de Groot , was a Dutch art collector, art historian and museum curator.-Life:He was the first academically schooled art historian of the Netherlands, receiving his training in Leipzig, which is why much of his work was published in German, most notably his lengthy 10-part...

. He was a regular contributor to the historical magazine "Oud Holland". In 1922 he left the Netherlands for health reasons and settled in Monaco

Monaco

Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...

, publishing books in 1927 on Jan Steen

Jan Steen

Jan Havickszoon Steen was a Dutch genre painter of the 17th century . Psychological insight, sense of humour and abundance of colour are marks of his trade.-Life:...

 and Rembrandt. He bequeathed his papers to the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie

Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie

The Netherlands Institute for Art History is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in documentation, archives, and books on Western art from the late middle ages until modern times...

, and his art collection lives on in the Museum Bredius

Museum Bredius

Museum Bredius is a museum named after Abraham Bredius on the Lange Vijverberg in The Hague. It is remarkable for its collection of etchings and paintings, but is most attractive to visitors for its accurate restoration of the 18th-century Herenhuis interior with period furnishings.-History:The...

. He also bequeathed several Rembrandt paintings to the National Dutch collection.

External references

• Books by Abraham Bredius on the Google Books Library Project
  Google Books Library Project
  The Google Books Library Project is an effort by Google to scan and make searchable the collections of several major research libraries. The project, along with Google's Partner Program, comprise Google Books . Along with bibliographic information, snippets of text from a book are often viewable...
  
  
• Abraham Bredius on inghist