Hulin de Loo, Georges: Early Flemish paintings in the Renders Collection at Bruges: exhibited at the Belgian Exhibition, Burlington House, January 1927 (London, 1927)

INTRODUCTION

BY the manner in which it was gathered the Renders
Collection differs from most of the other collections
formed in the XXth century. These collections were as a
rule, conjured together by the magic wand of Money, as, for
instance, the notable American collections, or some of the
more recent European collections, recruited in the great centres,
among international art dealers or at famous sales. Here, on
the contrary, the constitutive elements were found for the
most part in Belgium (a field now almost exhausted), in private
houses where they remained hidden or neglected for centuries,
or in small provincial antiquarian shops where chance had left
them stranded. With the patience and skill of the experienced
angler, our collector knew how to wait sometimes for years
until the longed - for opportunity arrived and he could secure
his prise. Often the instinct of the connoisseur had to be allied
to more than ordinary courage, for some of the best purchases
were made almost blindfolded : when the picture had been