Heirs want artwork back from Mauritshuis

The heirs of the art historian Abraham Bredius, who died in 1946, want works of art back from the Mauritshuis. Their lawyer confirmed this after reporting NRC. The museum in The Hague would not honor agreements about the exhibition of the work. Works include masterpieces by Rembrandt.

Before his death, Bredius had agreed with the Mauritshuis that he would leave the museum 25 of his works of art. In return, the works would always hang in the room, in other words: they would always have to be displayed in the museum. That seems not to be the case. Twenty of the 25 works are not visible in the gallery.

The heirs are now responsible for the contracts made at the time. They are not direct descendants of Bredius, but relatives of his pupil Joseph Kronig (1887-1984). Bredius and Kronig spent much of their lives together and Kronig was the sole heir to Bredius’s fortune.

The family’s lawyer, Gert Jan van den Bergh, says Bredius was very strict about his will. “At the beginning of the last century, he had already given part of his collection to the Rijksmuseum. He then discovered that the works of art were hanging in the dark near a staircase. He did not want that again.”

That is why Bredius had imposed a strict requirement for the works of art that went to the Mauritshuis after his death that they must always be on display. “Actually, the museum accepted the collection, but not the conditions,” said van den Bergh.

The lawyer emphasizes that the family is not worried about the money and that they do not intend to sell the artwork. “It’s about living up to the will.”

Bredius (1855-1946) was a distinguished expert on seventeenth-century Dutch painting. From 1889 to 1909 he was director of the Mauritshuis. The museum itself had asked him to leave the job. The collection includes paintings by Rembrandt, Jan Steen and Jan van Goyen.

Four works by Rembrandt and one by Van Ruysdael are still in the gallery.

Today a summons was delivered to the Mauritshuis and the Dutch state, which owns the Mauritshuis collection. The Mauritshuis says they cannot make any announcements while the case is ongoing.