‘The beautiful old patrician house on Herengracht is a treasure trove of ancient art, where Jacques Goudstikker has housed his extensive and high-quality gallery, which he has restored to its former state of around 1660 with his artistic taste. In the wonderful old rooms ... the sections devoted to the Italian, Dutch, German, and French schools, compiled with great understanding, are shown to their best advantage. And the external setting is worthy of these treasures.’
Jacques Goudstikker (1897–1940) [Figs. 1, 1a] was the preeminent dealer and art collector in the Netherlands until his tragic death while fleeing the Nazi-occupied Netherlands in May 1940. A visionary and influential force on the national and international art market, he promoted paintings from the Dutch and Flemish schools, early Dutch and German painting, the Italian Renaissance and the Hague School, while advising prominent collectors and selling to museums worldwide.
In May 1940, Goudstikker’s gallery inventory and collection were looted by Hermann Göring (1893-1946) with the help of the notorious Nazi businessman Alois Miedl (1903–1970). It was not until 2006 that 202 paintings were returned to Jacques Goudstikker’s heirs from the Dutch government.
Kunsthandel J. Goudstikker N.V. was founded in 1845 by Jacob Goudstikker (1836–1917) and continued by Eduard (1855–1925), the father of Jacques Goudstikker. Initially based at Kalverstraat 49 and relocated to Kalverstraat 73 in 1910 [Fig. 2], the gallery specialised in 17th-century Dutch and Flemish paintings and regularly held exhibitions not only in Amsterdam but also in Rotterdam, The Hague and other Dutch cities.
Between 1915 and 1931 the firm published a total of 39 catalogues, including the last 28 which were lavishly designed under the ambitious leadership of Jacques [Figs. 5, 6].
Jacques Goudstikker joined his father’s firm in 1919 and expanded its program to include paintings from Early Netherlandish to German and French Gothic, the Italian Renaissance, French 18- and 19th-century masters, as well as artists of the Hague School. In the early 1920s, Amsterdam became one of the centres of the international art market, and Jacques seized this opportunity to make the Goudstikker gallery one of the leaders in Europe for Old Master paintings, if not the world, as reflected in its travelling exhibitions to Scandinavia and the United States and in the calibre of his international clients.
In 1927 Kunsthandel J. Goudstikker N. V. moved into a prestigious townhouse on Herengracht 458 which was built in 1656 [Fig. 3].
The new gallery spaces were inaugurated on 19 February 1927 with an exhibition of 147 works by the great masters of the Dutch Golden Age, including Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Tintoretto and Goya, alongside Italian paintings and several works from other European schools. At the time a novel approach, the paintings were arranged by period and school in rooms furnished in the style of the respective era, following the example of Wilhelm von Bode (1845–1929), the influential director of the Berlin museums [Fig. 7].
Jacques became one of the most influential art dealers of his time, selling important works of art to national and international museums. In 1926, he sold Pieter Aertsen’s The Pancake Maker to the Boijsmans Museum in Rotterdam [Fig. 8]. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York acquired Luca Signorelli’s The Assumption of the Virgin with Saints Michael and Benedict in 1929 [Fig. 9]. He also advised prominent collectors such as Heinrich Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, G. D. van Beuningen, Franz Koenigs, Dr Otto Lanz and Richard Semmel. In the late 1920s he acquired A Group Portrait of a Family in an Elegant Interior by Gerrit Pietersz. van Zijl (formerly attributed to Caspar Netscher), among other paintings, on behalf of Semmel [Fig. 10].
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In the 1930s, Goudstikker discontinued the publication of its extravagant annual catalogues, reserving them for special themed exhibitions, such as Hollandsche Winterlandschappen uit de 17e Eeuw (Dutch Winter Landscapes from the 17th Century) from 1932, which featured both his own holdings as well as loans from public and private collections. He also organised solo shows, such as Rubens in 1933 and Salomon van Ruysdael in 1936, the latter including Ferry Boat with cattle on the River Vecht near Nijenrode [Figs. 12, 13].
In 1934, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam dedicated a major exhibition to Italiaansche Kunst in de Nederlands bezit (Italian Art in Dutch Ownership), featuring more than 1,200 works across all genres. The show was largely initiated by Goudstikker, who was a member of the exhibition committee and loaned numerous works. Two years later, the Rijksmuseum organised the Oude Kunst exhibition marking the 25th anniversary of the Vereeniging van Handelaren in Oude Kunst in Nederland (Association of Dealers in Old Art in the Netherlands), of which Jacques was chairman.
Among the paintings included was Thomas Gainsborough’s Portrait of James Christie lent by P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. (cat. no. 51.) [Fig. 14].
In October 1930, Jacques Goudstikker acquired Nijenrode Castle on the Vecht near Amsterdam, which became both a showroom and extension of the gallery. At one of his charity events Wenen on de Vecht (Vienna on the Vecht) held there in 1937, Jacques Goudstikker fell in love with the Vienna-based opera singer Dési (Désire Louise Anna Ernestine) von Halban-Kurz (1912–1996), whom he married later that year [Fig. 15].
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In the 1930s, Goudstikker discontinued the publication of its extravagant annual catalogues, reserving them for special themed exhibitions, such as Hollandsche Winterlandschappen uit de 17e Eeuw (Dutch Winter Landscapes from the 17th Century) from 1932, which featured both his own holdings as well as loans from public and private collections. He also organised solo shows, such as Rubens in 1933 and Salomon van Ruysdael in 1936, the latter including Ferry Boat with cattle on the River Vecht near Nijenrode [Figs. 12, 13].
In 1934, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam dedicated a major exhibition to Italiaansche Kunst in de Nederlands bezit (Italian Art in Dutch Ownership), featuring more than 1,200 works across all genres. The show was largely initiated by Goudstikker, who was a member of the exhibition committee and loaned numerous works. Two years later, the Rijksmuseum organised the Oude Kunst exhibition marking the 25th anniversary of the Vereeniging van Handelaren in Oude Kunst in Nederland (Association of Dealers in Old Art in the Netherlands), of which Jacques was chairman.
Among the paintings included was Thomas Gainsborough’s Portrait of James Christie lent by P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. (cat. no. 51.) [Fig. 14].
In October 1930, Jacques Goudstikker acquired Nijenrode Castle on the Vecht near Amsterdam, which became both a showroom and extension of the gallery. At one of his charity events Wenen on de Vecht (Vienna on the Vecht) held there in 1937, Jacques Goudstikker fell in love with the Vienna-based opera singer Dési (Désire Louise Anna Ernestine) von Halban-Kurz (1912–1996), whom he married later that year [Fig. 15].
‘Considering the circumstances, I am doing reasonably well, although the ongoing uncertainty is a factor that weighs heavily on me. It seems likely that I will soon leave this country, along with everything I have built up here and grown to love. […] we need nothing more than a little hope for the future to keep us afloat. You, me, and everyone else in these more than sad times, from which all justice seems to have disappeared forever. Don't despair! Maybe a cork will keep us afloat for a while, but as long as we can float, we can struggle...and maybe even escape...’
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In May 1940 as the German Wehrmacht occupied the Netherlands, Jacques managed to leave the country on one of the last ships with Dési and their young son Edo (Eduard, 1939–1996). His life was however tragically cut short during the stormy journey to England as a result of a fall through an open hatch on the deck. In his jacket pocket, Jacques carried a black book, a record of his holdings compiled shortly before his escape [Fig. 16]. This remains the key document for research into the looted Goudstikker collection.
Only weeks later Göring stated his interest in taking over the artworks of Goudstikker’s gallery. Assisted by Miedl and the art dealer Walter Andreas Hofer (1893–1975) Göring annexed approximately 1,400 works in July 1940 by means of threats and bribes. Jacques’ widow Dési, now the firm’s principal stockholder, vehemently opposed the compulsory sale from her home in exile but to no avail.
Göring sent around 800 artworks to Germany, diverting about 300 into his own collection. In 1945 these paintings were recovered by the Monuments Men and Women (Introduction/Glossary) and were returned to the Netherlands by the Allies with the understanding that they would be restituted to the original owners. Instead, the Dutch government deemed the sale to Göring as ‘voluntary’ and withheld their return for decades.
Dési made repeated attempts to recover the artworks looted by Göring [Fig. 18], which remained in the custody of the Dutch government since 1945.
‘It's about a historical injustice put right.’
After the deaths of Dési and her son Edo in 1996, Edo’s widow, Marei von Saher (b. 1944) [Fig. 19], resumed the claim for restitution. In 1998, the Washington Principles were declared and a new Restitutiecommissie (Advisory Committee on the Assessment of Restitution Applications for Items of Cultural Value and the Second World War) was established. The committee ultimately concluded that the sale to Göring had been forced.
In February 2006, more than 200 paintings were returned to the heirs of Jacques Goudstikker in one of the largest restitutions of Nazi-looted art. A group of 128 paintings were subsequently consigned to Christie’s and sold in New York, London and Amsterdam in 2007.
Peter C. Sutton, Reclaimed. Paintings from the Collection of Jacques Goudstikker 2008/09.
https://www.joodsamsterdam.nl/straten/
Pieter den Hollander. De Zaak Goudstikker, Amsterdam, 1998.
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The beautiful old patrician house on Herengracht is a treasure trove of ancient art, where Jacques Goudstikker has housed his extensive and high-quality gallery, which he has restored to its former state of around 1660 with his artistic taste. In the wonderful old rooms (...) the sections devoted to the Italian, Dutch, German, and French schools, compiled with great understanding, are shown to their best advantage. And the external setting is worthy of these treasures.
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