Frits Lugt
Encyclopedia
Frederik Johannes "Frits" Lugt (Amsterdam
, 4 May 1884 – Paris
, 15 July 1970), was a self-taught collector and connoisseur of Netherlandish drawings and prints and a selfless and tireless compiler of essential reference tools documenting Northern European prints and drawings, collectors' stamps and sale catalogues. An authority on Rembrandt's drawings, he collected all of the known etchings made by Rembrandt during his career.
. Upon the death of his father-in-law in 1931, his wife inherited a sizeable fortune, which enabled the couple to expand their collecting interests.
/Netherlands Bureau for Art History at The Hague
along with his personal library, in the nature of a "permanent loan."
of Old Master drawing
s and prints. In 1956 this first volume on collectors' marks was followed by a Supplément.
(the collection of Eugène Dutuit), the Bibliothèque Nationale, and the École des Beaux-Arts
. In 1932 he moved his family and growing art collection to the Lange Vijverberg in The Hague
, in the house that now houses the Museum Bredius
. This building was only a few hundred yards from the young Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD), and across the Hofvijver
from the Mauritshuis
.
, Ohio. While in America Lugt was impressed by the number of public institutions founded by private bequests. After the war they returned to their home in The Hague by boat, accompanied by fifty chests of books, catalogs, journals, and reproductions, most of which he gave to the RKD. Together the husband and wife team proceeded to recover the parts of their collection that they had not previously sent to Switzerland and that had been seized by the German occupying forces.
, Lugt, whose devout Mennonite
faith led him to consider their art collection part of God's gift, sought a cultural center which would make their collection accessible to the public: the result was the Fondation Custodia (1947), which continues to conserve the Lugt art collection, housed in the eighteenth-century Hôtel Turgot, Rue de Lille, Paris.
, this became the Institut Neerlandais in Paris (1957).
, he signed it as 'your very humble and very dutiful great-great-grand-son'. He certainly managed to collect more art than Mariette. At the time he died, the Lugt collection consisted of about six thousand drawings, thirty thousand prints, and two hundred paintings. His research is preserved in the databases of the RKD, while much of his art is still preserved in Paris.
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, 4 May 1884 – Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 15 July 1970), was a self-taught collector and connoisseur of Netherlandish drawings and prints and a selfless and tireless compiler of essential reference tools documenting Northern European prints and drawings, collectors' stamps and sale catalogues. An authority on Rembrandt's drawings, he collected all of the known etchings made by Rembrandt during his career.
Biography
Lugt was a precocious connoisseur who made a catalog of his own Museum Lugtius at age eight. Encouraged by his father, he became an art expert at a young age and cut short his formal education in 1901 to become an employee at the auction house of Frederik Muller in Amsterdam. Lugt's marriage in 1910 to Jacoba Klever (1888–1969), a woman of independent means, meant that he could pursue his interests without financial concerns. By 1911 he had become a partner of the firm, a position he held until 1915. One of his tasks at the auction house was the compilation of auctioneers' sale catalogues. Though art history as an academic field did not exist, he made a difficult choice to focus on this, and gave up his budding art career. He began to collect art with his wife, travelling throughout Europe for this and focussing on masters of the Dutch Golden AgeDutch Golden Age
The Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The first half is characterised by the Eighty Years' War till 1648...
. Upon the death of his father-in-law in 1931, his wife inherited a sizeable fortune, which enabled the couple to expand their collecting interests.
Research
His ongoing interest resulted in the four volumes of his famous Répertoire des catalogues de ventes publiques intéressant l'art ou la curiosité ("Repertory of catalogues of public sale concerned with art or objets d'art") published in 1938, 1953, 1964, and (posthumously) 1987, which gives essential details of sales catalogues published during the years 1600–1925, held in public collections in Europe and North America. The "Lugt number" of a sale catalogue is a familiar reference. While he was still occupied with this project, he donated his huge collection of sale catalogues and other documentary materials to the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische DocumentatieRijksbureau 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...
/Netherlands Bureau for Art History at The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
along with his personal library, in the nature of a "permanent loan."
Collectors' marks
In 1921, he completed his first work essential to art historians, Les marques de collections de dessins et d’estampes, the definitive repertory identifying the collector's marks and stamps on drawings and prints, with a short descriptive biography of each owner and a description of the particular collection; the work is the essential reference for establishing the provenanceProvenance
Provenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", refers to the chronology of the ownership or location of an historical object. The term was originally mostly used for works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and computing...
of Old Master drawing
Old Master
"Old Master" is a term for a European painter of skill who worked before about 1800, or a painting by such an artist. An "old master print" is an original print made by an artist in the same period...
s and prints. In 1956 this first volume on collectors' marks was followed by a Supplément.
Inventory catalogs for Paris collections
In 1922 he was commissioned to compile the inventory catalogue of Dutch and Flemish drawings in the Musée du Louvre. The first volume appeared in 1927, the series eventually comprising nine volumes cataloguing drawings of the Northern schools not only from the Louvre's collection but also in other collections in Paris, including the Petit PalaisPetit Palais
The Petit Palais is a museum in Paris, France. Built for the Universal Exhibition in 1900 to Charles Girault's designs, it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts ....
(the collection of Eugène Dutuit), the Bibliothèque Nationale, and the École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
. In 1932 he moved his family and growing art collection to the Lange Vijverberg in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, in the house that now houses 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...
. This building was only a few hundred yards from the young Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD), and across the Hofvijver
Hofvijver
The Hofvijver is a small pond in the centre of The Hague. It is adjoined in the east by the Korte Vijverberg , in the south by the Binnenhof and the Mauritshuis, in the west by the Buitenhof and in the north by the Lange Vijverberg...
from 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...
.
Oberlin College
When war threatened the Netherlands, the Lugts together sent the top pieces of their impressive collection of drawings, prints, books, and paintings in six packages to Switzerland. During the Second World War, the couple fled to the United States, where Wolfgang Stechow secured a temporary position for him lecturing at Oberlin CollegeOberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
, Ohio. While in America Lugt was impressed by the number of public institutions founded by private bequests. After the war they returned to their home in The Hague by boat, accompanied by fifty chests of books, catalogs, journals, and reproductions, most of which he gave to the RKD. Together the husband and wife team proceeded to recover the parts of their collection that they had not previously sent to Switzerland and that had been seized by the German occupying forces.
Fondation Custodia
In the style of self-taught American philanthropists such as Andrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
, Lugt, whose devout Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
faith led him to consider their art collection part of God's gift, sought a cultural center which would make their collection accessible to the public: the result was the Fondation Custodia (1947), which continues to conserve the Lugt art collection, housed in the eighteenth-century Hôtel Turgot, Rue de Lille, Paris.
Institut Neerlandais
The next thing Lugt did was to arrange accommodation for a center devoted to scholarship and the arts in the Netherlands. After attempts to found this in their home on the Lange Vijverberg in The HagueThe Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, this became the Institut Neerlandais in Paris (1957).
Legacy
Frits Lugt survived his wife by less than a year. In his sale catalog for the illustrious 18th century art collector Pierre-Jean MariettePierre-Jean Mariette
Pierre-Jean Mariette was a collector of and dealer in old master prints, a renowned connoisseur, especially of prints and drawings, and a chronicler of the careers of French Italian and Flemish artists...
, he signed it as 'your very humble and very dutiful great-great-grand-son'. He certainly managed to collect more art than Mariette. At the time he died, the Lugt collection consisted of about six thousand drawings, thirty thousand prints, and two hundred paintings. His research is preserved in the databases of the RKD, while much of his art is still preserved in Paris.