Rottiers Collection

Last updated February 19, 2019

The Rottiers Collection refers to three 19th-century art collections that became an integral part of the collection of the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities. The first two collections were personal and sold by Flemish Colonel B.E.A. Rottiers to the Dutch government, the third was gathered by the colonel on a government-backed mission with the express purpose of collecting art.

The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden is the national archaeological museum of the Netherlands. It is located in Leiden. The Museum grew out of the collection of Leiden University and still closely co-operates with its Faculty of Archaeology. The museum calls itself the national center for archaeology, and focuses on ancient Egypt, the ancient Near East, the classical world of Greece, Etruria and Rome and the early Netherlands.

First collection

Rottiers had gathered the first collection of antiquities during a stay in Athens. He used a network of influential diplomats to acquire and export the objects. Where he had in fact gotten them from remained vague. Rottiers himself stated that he had excavated and been rather lucky, but others claimed that he had not found anything and then simply bought the items from them.

The first of Rottiers' collections was offered to the Dutch government in 1820. The Department of Education, Arts and Sciences Enzo in turn wrote to archaeology professor Caspar Reuvens, asking him to evaluate the collection and give advise. Reuvens was enthusiastic about the antiquities, mainly because they were Greek originals which the growing museum did not yet have. The Dutch government bought the collection for 12,000 guilders from Rottiers, and placed it in the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden.^[1]

Caspar Jacob Christiaan Reuvens was a Dutch historian and archaeologist. He was the founding director of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, the world's first ever professor of archaeology, and conducted the first excavations at the Roman provincial site Forum Hadriani in the Netherlands.

Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German gulden, originally shortened from Middle High German guldin pfenninc "gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Empire for the Fiorino d'oro. Hence, the name has often been interchangeable with florin.

Second collection

Soon after Rottiers had sold the first collection to the Dutch government, he offered a second one. This collection was of less importance, but would still be welcome in the museum. The collection was bought for 2500 guilders.

As with the first collection, the provenance of the objects was unclear. Rottiers had claimed that this time one of his sons had found the antiquities, but Reuvens would discover years later that this collection too had been bought. Worse was the discovery that the best piece in the collection turned out not to be a bronze Greek original, but a modern cast of a marble head. It is unclear how much of this Rottiers knew, but it is certain that he had deliberately added the bronze head to the collection in Antwerp, and that his son had not found nor bought it.^[2]

Antwerp Municipality in Flemish Community, Belgium

Antwerp is a city in Belgium, and is the capital of Antwerp province in Flanders. With a population of 520,504, it is the most populous city proper in Belgium, and with 1,200,000 the second largest metropolitan region after Brussels.

Third collection

The third collection was not a privately gathered collection of antiquities by Rottiers, but the result of an Aegean expedition financed by the Dutch government. The express purpose of the expedition was for Rottiers to collect art and other antiquities. During the expedition Rottiers organizes a small excavation on Melos, makes an elaborate study of the medieval architecture on Rhodes, and eventually does deliver antiquities to the Leiden museum in several shipments. By that time Rottiers' credibility was in serious doubt though, and his frequent complaints and apparent abuse of government funding did not help. The final evaluation of the expedition was mainly negative, as Rottiers had promised to deliver a lot and ended up doing just one excavation of only 10 days, spending a lot of time on medieval architecture and had not bought any first class antiquities.^[3]

Aegean Sea Part of the Mediterranean Sea between the Greek and Anatolian peninsulas

The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the Greek and Anatolian peninsulas i.e. between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosphorus. The Aegean Islands are within the sea and some bound it on its southern periphery, including Crete and Rhodes.

Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the South Aegean administrative region. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Rhodes. The city of Rhodes had 50,636 inhabitants in 2011. It is located northeast of Crete, southeast of Athens and just off the Anatolian coast of Turkey. Rhodes' nickname is The island of the Knights, named after the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, who once conquered the land.

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References

↑ Halbertsma, R. B. (2003). Scholars, Travellers, and Trade: The Pioneer Years of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, 1818-1840, Routledge, p. 49-54
↑ Halbertsma, R. B. (2003). Scholars, Travellers, and Trade: The Pioneer Years of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, 1818-1840, Routledge, p. 54-56
↑ Halbertsma, R. B. (2003). Scholars, Travellers, and Trade: The Pioneer Years of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, 1818-1840, Routledge, p. 57-70

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[1] Halbertsma, R. B. (2003). Scholars, Travellers, and Trade: The Pioneer Years of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, 1818-1840, Routledge, p. 49-54

[2] Halbertsma, R. B. (2003). Scholars, Travellers, and Trade: The Pioneer Years of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, 1818-1840, Routledge, p. 54-56

[3] Halbertsma, R. B. (2003). Scholars, Travellers, and Trade: The Pioneer Years of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, 1818-1840, Routledge, p. 57-70