Title: The Dutch King Willem II (1792–1849) as collector and source of some important pictures in the Wallace Collection
Speaker: Dr Ellinoor Bergvelt (Guest Researcher, University of Amsterdam / Research Fellow, Dulwich Picture Gallery)

Abstract: This paper focuses on the collection of the Dutch King Willem II of the House of Orange-Nassau (1792–1849). He reigned from 1840 to 1849, but he started collecting much earlier, in the 1820s, when he was still crown prince and living in Brussels. During the reign of his father, Willem I (r. 1814/15– 1840), the Belgians revolted against Dutch rule in 1830. The future Willem II had fought under the Duke of Wellington in Spain and later against Napoleon at Waterloo. After Willem had become king, he built the ‘Gothic Hall’ in The Hague to exhibit his important international pictures and Old Master Drawings. He had many so-called Flemish ‘Primitives’, including works by Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, but also by Raphael, Guido Reni, Murillo, Rembrandt and Rubens. After his sudden death, the collections were rushed to auction by his heirs in 1850 and 1851 in The Hague. Most of the paintings and drawings were purchased by famous collectors, museums and galleries, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Hermitage in St Petersburg, and the Städelsches Institut in Frankfurt. The 4th Marquess of Hertford acquired a Rubens (Christ’s Charge to Peter), two Van Dycks (Philippe le Roy and Marie de Raet), three ‘Rembrandts’ (Portrait of Titus, Jan Pellicorne, and Susanna van Collen), an Andrea del Sarto (Madonna and Child with St John) and a Hobbema (The Watermill). Most are now displayed with other masterpieces in the Great Gallery at the Wallace Collection.

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