Museum Mayer van den Bergh

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Nadia De Vree

De wondermooie collectie waarmee u kennis maakt in dit intieme museum, is het levenswerk van één man: Fritz Mayer van den Bergh, een visionair met een feilloos gevoel voor kunst.Tijdens zijn korte leven (1858-1901) verzamelt hij een gevarieerde en uitzonderlijke collectie kunst, voornamelijk uit de Nederlanden, van de 14de tot de 16de eeuw. Hij reist intensief en verwerft in binnen- en buitenland topstukken die op dat moment aan de aandacht van anderen ontsnappen. De wereldvermaarde Dulle Griet, van Pieter Bruegel de Oude, koopt hij in 1894 op een Keulse veiling, voor omgerekend €12,50. Na zijn vroegtijdige dood bouwt zijn moeder, Henriette van den Bergh, dit sfeervolle museum in hartje binnenstad. Waar wij tot op vandaag van het levenswerk van gepassioneerd kunstverzamelaar Fritz Mayer van den Bergh kunnen genieten.Museum Mayer van den Bergh in beeldMet de steun van Vlaanderen

De wondermooie collectie waarmee u kennis maakt in dit intieme museum, is het levenswerk van één man: Fritz Mayer van den Bergh, een visionair met een feilloos gevoel voor kunst.Tijdens zijn korte leven (1858-1901) verzamelt hij een gevarieerde en uitzonderlijke collectie kunst, voornamelijk uit de Nederlanden, van de 14de tot de 16de eeuw. Hij reist intensief en verwerft in binnen- en buitenland topstukken die op dat moment aan de aandacht van anderen ontsnappen. De wereldvermaarde Dulle Griet, van Pieter Bruegel de Oude, koopt hij in 1894 op een Keulse veiling, voor omgerekend €12,50. Na zijn vroegtijdige dood bouwt zijn moeder, Henriette van den Bergh, dit sfeervolle museum in hartje binnenstad. Waar wij tot op vandaag van het levenswerk van gepassioneerd kunstverzamelaar Fritz Mayer van den Bergh kunnen genieten.Museum Mayer van den Bergh in beeld

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‘At home in a museum. The story of Henriëtte and Fritz Mayer van den Bergh’ is available for purchase from 22 June 2021. This illustrated book delves deeper into the origins and fascinating history of the Museum Mayer van den Bergh and its founders. The book, which is supplemented with quotes and previously unpublished 19th-century photos, chronicles the Belle Epoque in Antwerp and the relations between an international network of collectors, antiques dealers, art historians and museum founders. ‘At home in a museum’ by Ulrike Müller is published by Hannibal Books and is available for purchase in the museum shop or online.

At home in a museum: a book about Henriëtte and Fritz Mayer van den Bergh

Jan van Eyck’s little panel with the Madonna at the Fountain has been added to the exhibition Madonna Meets Mad Meg at the Mayer van den Bergh Museum in Antwerp. The painting – a masterpiece from the same city’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts (KMSKA) – is exceptional in several respects. It still has its original frame, for instance, which Jan van Eyck inscribed with his famous, authentic motto ALS IXH XAN (‘as I can’ or ‘to the best of my ability’), his name and the year of execution. Van Eyck’s Antwerp Madonna featured this spring in the major international exhibition of the artist’s work at the Museum of Fine Art (MSKG) in Ghent before it was abruptly forced to close its doors in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. Van Eyck’s Madonna at the Fountain shows the Virgin Mary in a lush, flowering garden. Dressed in a long blue robe, she gazes lovingly at Jesus, whom she holds in her arms and tenderly presses against herself. Behind her, two angels with brightly-coloured wings hold up a...

Work by Jan van Eyck added to the Madonna Meets Mad Meg exhibition

Jan van Eyck’s little panel with the Madonna at the Fountain has been added to the exhibition Madonna Meets Mad Meg at the Mayer van den Bergh Museum in Antwerp. The painting – a masterpiece from the same city’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts (KMSKA) – is exceptional in several respects. It still has its original frame, for instance, which Jan van Eyck inscribed with his famous, authentic motto ALS IXH XAN (‘as I can’ or ‘to the best of my ability’), his name and the year of execution. Van Eyck’s Antwerp Madonna featured this spring in the major international exhibition of the artist’s work at the Museum of Fine Art (MSKG) in Ghent before it was abruptly forced to close its doors in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. Van Eyck’s Madonna at the Fountain shows the Virgin Mary in a lush, flowering garden. Dressed in a long blue robe, she gazes lovingly at Jesus, whom she holds in her arms and tenderly presses against herself. Behind her, two angels with brightly-coloured wings hold up a cloth of honour in gold brocade, decorated with floral and animal motifs. The fabric is spread across the ground too, so that Mary does not stand on the damp grass. The scene is set in a garden with red rose-bushes behind a low wall. All sorts of flowers bloom in the garden, including irises or lilies, violets, forget-me-nots and lily of the valley. The painting – a masterpiece from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts (KMSKA) in Antwerp – is exceptional in several respects. Barely larger than a hand, it is packed with Marian symbols. What’s more, the panel still has its original frame, which Jan van Eyck inscribed with his famous, authentic motto ALS IXH XAN (‘as I can’ or ‘to the best of my ability’), his name and the year of execution. It is also the final dated and signed autograph work by the master that we know of: Van Eyck painted it two years before his death. The painting featured this spring in the exhibition Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution before it was abruptly obliged to close in response to the Covid-19 crisis. Madonna at the Fountain has now been added to the Madonna Meets Mad Meg exhibition, which features a selection of masterpieces that once belonged to the passionate collectors Florent Van Ertborn and Fritz Mayer van den Bergh. Here, in the intimate setting of the Mayer van den Bergh Museum, this marvellous little painting has an additional story to tell: that of the fervent collector Florent van Ertborn, who succeeded in acquiring a work by Van Eyck. Van Ertborn purchased the work shortly before 1835 from the priest in the village of Dikkelvenne near Ghent. Madonna Meets Mad Meg runs until 31 December 2020.   Practical info Madonna Meets Mad Meg: Masterpieces and Their Collectors runs until 31 December 2020. Mayer van den Bergh Museum, Lange Gasthuisstraat 19, 2000 Antwerp www.museummayervandenbergh.be € 8.00 / € 6.00 / free. For the time being, the Mayer van den Bergh Museum is only accessible to visitors with a pre-purchased ticket. All information on tickets and safely visiting the museum can be found at www.museummayervandenbergh.be/coronavirus. Opening times: Tuesday to Sunday: 10.00 am–5 pm. Closed: Mondays and public holidays (1 November, 25 December). The exhibition is a co-production with the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (KMSKA).

Madonna meets Mad Meg. Masterpieces and Their Collectors

Extended until 09/01/2022

Fritz and Florent’s contemporaries tended to view Bruegel’s Dulle Griet and Fouquet’s Madonna as impoverished, nondescript, weird or downright ugly. Fortunately, the two collectors took another view. They broke completely with the fashions of their time in their quest for that one special masterpiece. It goes without saying that Fouquet and Bruegel are the real masters behind the Madonna and Mad Meg. Yet it is thanks to the master collectors Florent van Ertborn (1784–1840) and Fritz Mayer van den Bergh (1858–1901) that we are able to enjoy these masterpieces today. These two figures from Antwerp collected paintings, sculptures, manuscripts and other art objects with immense passion. Their acquisitions were often bargains, sometimes investments and occasionally brilliant discoveries. Both collectors were far ahead of their time. For centuries, Rubens was considered the greatest artist and there was barely any interest in Flemish masters like Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Quentin Massys and Rogier van der Weyden, or in the work of the French artist Jean Fouquet. Van Ertborn and Mayer van den Bergh, by contrast, recognized the quality of this art. Trendsetters Beginning on 5 October 2019, this pair of astute collectors invite you to visit the Mayer van den Bergh Museum in Antwerp, where Fritz and Florent will sweep you up in their passion for collecting and share several of their masterpieces. The highlight is the recently restored Mad Meg by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Fritz rediscovered the painting precisely 125 years ago and purchased it at auction in Cologne, where the enigmatic work was displayed high up on a saleroom wall. The young collector proved more alert than the various prestigious museums and was able to acquire the strange work for just 488 old Belgian francs. It turned out to be the purchase of Fritz’s life, as the masterpiece was believed lost at the time. Florent van Ertborn, who acquired around a hundred of the masterpieces that now belong to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (KMSKA), had a similar nose for brilliant discoveries. Fouquet’s highly unusual Madonna – after more than 500 years, still one of the loveliest French paintings – was purchased from a Paris art dealer. To get hold of Antonello da Messina’s Calvary, meanwhile, Van Ertborn came to an arrangement with a Ghent collector, who could have sold the little Italian panel for a hefty sum. The precise details have yet to be discovered, but Van Ertborn most likely traded several other works for Antonella da Messina’s masterpiece. Fritz’s acquisition of the Christmas cradle might have been a stroke of luck, as the piece formed part of a substantial lot, on which he took a huge financial risk. Connoisseurs and collectors viewed the cradle as a medieval toy, but Mayer van den Bergh spotted the household object’s exceptional quality. Nuns in the fifteenth century would pull on the string while singing songs, causing the cradle to rock and the little bells to jingle –a mystical experience that appealed to the senses.

At home in a museum: a book about Henriëtte and Fritz Mayer van den Bergh

Work by Jan van Eyck added to the Madonna Meets Mad Meg exhibition

Madonna meets Mad Meg. Masterpieces and Their Collectors

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Nadia De Vree

Perscommunicatie Cultuur, Stad Antwerpen