DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15763#0015
INTRODUCTION
he collection of Baron Albert von Oppenheim which
was forme d during the course of a life-time is the
most comprehensive and one of the choicest private
collections in Germany. — The collector who was
born the 13* of November 1834 and who died the 23rd of June 1912,
made use of the favourable position of Cologne, situated as it
is in the midst of the great art-markets, by making acquisitions,
whenever favourable opportunities arose, either in Cologne itself
or Paris, Brüssels or London. The greatest living authority on
the subject, Otto von Falke, is going to express himself on the
antiquities, especially on the collection of Rhenish stoneware,
which, in its way, is unique. I am requested to draw the
attention once more briefly to the importance of the pictures
which, thanks to the courtesy of the owner, have been exhibited
frequently at important exhibitions.
The Gallery contains, amongst others of the primitive period,
one of the most interesting pictures of the early Dutch School,
the famous Saint Eligius by Petrus Christus, which is fully
signed and dated 1449. This picture which is one of the largest
and certainly the most attractive work of Jan van Eyck's
great pupil, shows a young couple (they may be "Saints") in the
costume of the period, in the work-shop of the goldsmiths'patron
saint, Saint Eligius, receiving their betrothal rings; a picture of
the greatest beauty owing to the richness of all the details. —
There are also two characteristic works by Quinten Massys —
the Madonna in an open landscape of the master's later period,
füll of movement, rieh in motive and in perfect state; secondly,
the "Two Money-Changers". This picture gave rise to an in-
teresting controversy owing to the inscription on the book —
"Le Roy doiet a Maistre Cornille de la (Chapelle)" —, from which
the conclusion was drawn that Master Corneille de Lyon was
9
he collection of Baron Albert von Oppenheim which
was forme d during the course of a life-time is the
most comprehensive and one of the choicest private
collections in Germany. — The collector who was
born the 13* of November 1834 and who died the 23rd of June 1912,
made use of the favourable position of Cologne, situated as it
is in the midst of the great art-markets, by making acquisitions,
whenever favourable opportunities arose, either in Cologne itself
or Paris, Brüssels or London. The greatest living authority on
the subject, Otto von Falke, is going to express himself on the
antiquities, especially on the collection of Rhenish stoneware,
which, in its way, is unique. I am requested to draw the
attention once more briefly to the importance of the pictures
which, thanks to the courtesy of the owner, have been exhibited
frequently at important exhibitions.
The Gallery contains, amongst others of the primitive period,
one of the most interesting pictures of the early Dutch School,
the famous Saint Eligius by Petrus Christus, which is fully
signed and dated 1449. This picture which is one of the largest
and certainly the most attractive work of Jan van Eyck's
great pupil, shows a young couple (they may be "Saints") in the
costume of the period, in the work-shop of the goldsmiths'patron
saint, Saint Eligius, receiving their betrothal rings; a picture of
the greatest beauty owing to the richness of all the details. —
There are also two characteristic works by Quinten Massys —
the Madonna in an open landscape of the master's later period,
füll of movement, rieh in motive and in perfect state; secondly,
the "Two Money-Changers". This picture gave rise to an in-
teresting controversy owing to the inscription on the book —
"Le Roy doiet a Maistre Cornille de la (Chapelle)" —, from which
the conclusion was drawn that Master Corneille de Lyon was
9