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.
The house was built together with its neighbor (numbers 14 & 15) by the architect Pieter de Swart in 1755, and was home to a series of important Heren up to the 1930s, when it was purchased by Frits Lugt, to house his massive collection of drawings and prints that later (along with the initial donation by Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (1863–1930), formed the basis for the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), and is now mostly housed in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands, or (KB).
In 1955 the house was purchased by the city of the Hague for the Bredius collection, which until then was housed in the former home of its donor, Abraham Bredius (Amsterdam, 1855 - Monaco, 1946). That house on the Prinsengracht 6 had housed the collection until 1985, when it closed its doors due to a dip in the number of visitors, combined with a subsidy stop. Friends of the museum created the Bredius Genootschap that took the collection on tour, which met with great success. When the genootschap finally had enough funding to reopen in a permanent location, the old house could not be used. The decision to move to the present location was made possible with the gift of a generous sponsor to remodel it in the original Louis XV style. It has been home to the Bredius Museum since 1990.
Abraham Bredius was the son of a gunpowder manufacturer who left him a large fortune to spend in the arts. He was a very learned man and writer of many articles and books on art history, who became known internationally as a Rembrandt expert. He became director of the Mauritshuis in The Hague and in that capacity devoted himself to scientific research. [1] When he moved to Monaco for health reasons in 1922, he believed that the climate was bad for his paintings, and he left them in his old home as a museum, with the promise that they would go to the city on his death. In Monaco he wrote his books on Jan Steen and Rembrandt.
He was embroiled in many controversial academical battles over various aspects of art history, such as attributions of paintings by Jan Steen and Rembrandt, or the proper way to present and build a museum collection. He was unable to work together with Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, which is why the Museum Bredius is now totally separate from the RKD, which ironically has its roots in the same building today.
The collection is represented by over 150 artists, with illustrious names such as Aelbert Cuyp, Anthony van Dyck, Melchior de Hondecoeter, Adriaen van Ostade, Quiringh van Brekelenkam, and Rembrandt. Bredius only kept pieces which were of academic interest in the art history field, such as the only known landscape example by the seascape painter Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen, or a mutilated piece that was originally a biblical scene by Jan Steen of the marriage of Tobias and Sarah, that had been cut down into two genre pieces in the 19th century and sold separately. He donated more than 46 paintings he attributed himself to the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. He tended to only keep the masterpieces, which were the first known work by many artists when they were accepted as a master into a local Guild of St. Luke.
The museum contains a large collection of silver, including 70 examples by Amsterdam silversmiths from the 17th to 19th centuries. There is also a porcelain collection with Chinese blue and German pieces to offset the historical themes in Delftware.
Adriaen van Ostade was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works.
Abraham van Calraet, or Kalraat was a Dutch Golden Age painter and engraver.
The Rembrandt Research Project (RRP) is an initiative of the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), which is the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. Its purpose is to organize and categorize research on Rembrandt van Rijn, with the aim of discovering new facts about this Dutch Golden Age painter and his studio. The project was started in 1968, but has since become the authority on Rembrandt and has the final say in whether a painting is genuine.
Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, was a Dutch art collector, art historian and museum curator.
Dr. Abraham Bredius was a Dutch art collector, art historian, and museum curator.
Horst Gerson was a German-Dutch art historian.
The Head of Christ is a 1648 painting by the Dutch artist Rembrandt. It is now in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.
Flora or Saskia as Flora is a 1634 oil-on-canvas painting by Rembrandt, depicting his wife Saskia van Uylenburgh as the goddess Flora. It is held by the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
Portrait of Jan Six is a 1654 painting by the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn. Having been handed down many generations, via the direct descendants of the portrait's subject, Jan Six, the work remains in the Six Collection in Amsterdam.
The pendant portraits of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit are a pair of full-length wedding portraits by Rembrandt. They were painted on the occasion of the marriage of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit in 1634. Formerly owned by the Rothschild family, they became joinedly owned by the Louvre Museum and the Rijksmuseum in 2015 after both museums managed to contribute half of the purchase price of €160 million, a record for works by Rembrandt.
Portrait of Catharina Hooghsaet (1607–1685) is a 1657 painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt.
Portrait of Maria Trip (c.1639) is an oil on panel painting by the Dutch painter Rembrandt. It is an example of Dutch Golden Age painting and is now in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
The Man with the Golden Helmet is an oil on canvas painting formerly attributed to the Dutch painter Rembrandt and today considered to be a work by someone in his circle.
View of Haarlem from the Northwest, with the Bleaching Fields in the Foreground is an oil on canvas painting by the Dutch landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdael. It is an example of Dutch Golden Age painting and is now in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
Tobias and Sarah in Prayer with the Angel Raphael and the Demon is an oil on canvas painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Jan Steen. It is now in the collection of the Bredius Museum, The Hague.
Head of Christ is a 1650s painting by Rembrandt's workshop. It shows Christ with a beard and long dark hair. It is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Shipbuilder and his Wife is a 1633 painting by Rembrandt. The sitters were identified in 1970 as Jan Rijcksen (1560/2–1637) and his wife Griet Jans Rijcksen. Rijcksen was a shareholder in the Dutch East India Company, and became its master shipbuilder in 1620. The painting has been in the Royal Collection since 1811.
Portrait of a Woman Wearing a Gold Chain is a 1634 portrait painted by Rembrandt. It shows a smiling woman with a triple lace collar. It is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Portrait of a 62-year-old Woman, possibly Aeltje Pietersdr Uylenburgh is a 1632 portrait painting painted by Rembrandt. It shows an elderly woman with a small and sober millstone collar. It is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Portrait of Petronella Buys (1610–1670) is a 1635 portrait painting painted by Rembrandt. It shows a young woman with a very large and impressive millstone collar. It is in a private collection.
Coordinates: 52°04′52.51″N4°18′45.56″E / 52.0812528°N 4.3126556°E
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