Gerrit Reynst (1599 – 29 June 1658) (also known as Gerard Reynst) was, like his younger brother Jan (1601–1646), a Dutch merchant and art collector from Amsterdam, with his brother owner of the Reynst Collection. He was an alderman and member of the town council, entering it in 1646.
Biography
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Reynst was born in Amsterdam, the son of the merchant Gerard Reynst from the Reynst family, who in the year 1614 became the second Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, and Margrieta Nicquet, whose merchant brother Jacques Nicquet was a fervent art collector. Gerard Jr. lived in a house called De Hoop at Keizersgracht 209 that he later made into an art museum. His brother Jan was a collector of antique statuary and Italian paintings who was able to purchase the collection of the estate Andrea Vendramin in 1629, 230 sculptures and 140 paintings. After Jan's death in 1646 almost all of these were sent to Gerard, who published a selection of 112 items in the collection with the help of Gerard de Lairesse as Signorum Veterum Icones, and opened his house to visitors. Amalia van Solms and Cosimo de' Medici were some of the more notable visitors. Reynst never lived to see his book published, since he drowned in the canal in front of his Amsterdam house in 1658.[1]
Reynst Collection
editGerrit's collection included Italian old-master paintings and antiquities, such as The Ecstasy of St Paul by Johann Liss.[2] After Gerrit's death in 1658 the collection dispersed into English, German and other Dutch collections, including what is now the Antikensammlung Berlin, and some remained with his widow Anna. The Dutch Republic bought 24 of the best Italian paintings and 12 of the best Classical sculptures from Gerrit's widow in 1660 for 80,000 gulden, via Heer van Outshoorn.[1] This collection was given to English King Charles II (many of the paintings in it had previously been in Charles I's collection, and been sold to Reynst by the Commonwealth government) on his return from the Netherlands to England, and is known as the Dutch Gift.[3]: 15–38 [4]: 303–305 [Notes 1] One of the paintings may have been Guercino's, "Semiramis Receiving Word of the Revolt of Babylon". (A series of engravings of pictures from his collection was made sometime before his death, including one by Jeremias Falk of Guercino's Semiramis.)
References
editNotes
edit- ^ See also Halbertsma on the sculpture, and Logan on the collection as a whole.
Citations
edit- ^ "De collectie Reynst en de tand des tijds" [The Reynst collection and the ravages of time]. Museum Kennis (in Dutch). n.d. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
Na de dood van Gerard Reynst (hij verdronk in 1646 in de Keizersgracht) raakte zijn verzameling verspreid over binnen- en buitenlandse verzamelingen.
[After Gerard Reynst's death (he drowned in 1646 in the Keizersgracht), his collection was spread over national and international collections.] - ^ Liss, Johann (1628–1629). "The Ecstasy of St Paul". Web Gallery of Art. Staatliche Museen, Berlin. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2022.}
- ^ Jacobs, Emil (1925). "Das Museo Vendramin und die Sammlung Reynst" [The Museo Vendramin and the Reynst Collection]. In Waetzoldt, Wilhelm (ed.). Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft [Art Studies Repertory] (in German). Vol. 46. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 15–38. ISBN 9783111442419. OCLC 470167880. OL 34465838M – via Google Books.
- ^ Mahon, Denis (November 1949). "Notes on the 'Dutch Gift' to Charles II:I". The Burlington Magazine. 91 (560): 303–305. ISSN 0007-6287. JSTOR 870206. LCCN 85641854. OCLC 709976885.
See also
editFurther reading
edit- Logan, Anne-Marie S. (1979). The "Cabinet" of the brothers Gerard and Jan Reynst. Verhandelingen Afdelling Letterkunde, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen. ISBN 978-0720483420. LCCN 80460037. OCLC 465829567. OL 4182090M.
- Bastet, F. L. (1980). "Reviewed Work: The "Cabinet" of the Brothers Gerard and Jan Reynst by Anne-Marie S. Logan". Book Reviews. Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art. 11 (1): 55–57. ISSN 0037-5411. JSTOR 3780514. OCLC 476752107.
- Mahon, Denis (November 1949). "Guercino's Paintings of Semiramis". The Art Bulletin. 31 (3): 217–223. ISSN 0004-3079. JSTOR 304724. LCCN 2004235629. OCLC 67129102.
- "Four governors of the Musketeers practice range, Amsterdam". Codarts. n.d. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2022.