Book presentation „Gestatten Suermondt! Sammler, Kenner. Kunstmäzen“

**Aachen exhibition catalogue "Gestatten Suermondt! Sammler, Kenner. Kunstmäzen", released by Peter van den Brink and Wibke Vera Birth** © Belser Verlag

**Jan Vermeer van Delft, Young Woman with a Pearl Necklace, c. 1662/65, acquired 1874 with the B. Suermondt Collection** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Christoph Schmidt

**Jan van Eyck, The Madonna in the Church, c. 1440, acquired 1874 with the B. Suermondt Collection** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Jörg P. Anders

**Hans Holbein t.J., Roelof (?) de Vos van Steenwijk, 1541, acquired 1874 with the B. Suermondt Collection** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Jörg P. Anders

**Jacob van Ruisdael, Dam Square in Amsterdam, c.1675–80, acquired 1874 with the B. Suermondt Collection** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Jörg P. Anders

**Frans Hals, Singing Boy with Flute, c. 1627, acquired 1874 with the B. Suermondt Collection** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Christoph Schmidt

Book presentation „Gestatten Suermondt! Sammler, Kenner. Kunstmäzen“ at the Gemäldegalerie

14.03.2018
Gemäldegalerie

On the occasion of the 200th Birthday of Barthold Suermondt (1818-1887) the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum in Aachen, with support of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, honours the excellent collection of the Aachen industrialist with an exhibition “Gestatten Suermondt! Sammler, Kenner, Kunstmäzen”. Suermondt acquired many high-quality paintings over the years, but had to sell a large part of his collection following the economic crisis in 1874 to the Königliche Museen in Berlin. This contingent included 218 paintings and around 400 drawings. Today many of these works are considered masterpieces in the Gemäldegalerie, such as Vermeer’s “Woman with a Pearl-Necklace” and Van Eyck’s “Madonna in a Church”.

On the 13th of March 2018, Peter van den Brink, the director of the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, presents the Aachen exhibition catalogue and will give an evening lecture about Suermondts collecting practice.

The catalogue for the Aachen exhibition “Gestatten Suermondt! Sammler, Kenner, Kunstmäzen”, released by Peter van den Brink and Wibke Vera Birth, is published by the Belser-Verlag. The book gives a detailed introduction of the works displayed in Aachen and a biography of Suermondt as well as a history of the patronage of arts in the 19th century. For the first time 600 paintings of the former Suermondt Collection will be documented in a register, as well as their whereabouts and provenance.

Simultaneously to the Aachen exhibition, the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin releases a tour with a booklet (available in English and German) through their permanent exhibition about the masterworks of the Suermondt collection.

The booklet was made possible through financing by the Peter and Irene Ludwig Stiftung.