Museum Mayer van den Bergh

History

Fritz Mayer van den Bergh was born in 1858 in Antwerp as the son of Henriëtte Henriëtte, who was from an influential Antwerp family, and Emil Mayer, a businessman from Cologne. The family lived in a spacious city palace in the heart of Antwerp, remodelled from an older building. His father already owned an art collection which included works by Jan Brueghel the Elder.

Fritz collected art for most of his life, making his most expensive and important additions between 1897 and his death at the age of 43 in 1901. He was especially interested in art from the 14th to sixteenth century. At the time, Gothic and Renaissance art was not particularly appreciated and affordable. This allowed him to build a collection of 1.000 pieces of mostly Northern Renaissance art.

After his death, his mother Henriette Mayer van den Bergh built between 1901 and 1904 in the banking district of Antwerp a neo-Gothic building to serve as a museum for the expansive art collection of her son. The City of Antwerp and a Board of Regents have jointly managed the building and collection since 1951. The museum started in 2025 works to expand the premises of the museum by adding the adjacent corner house - once the childhood home of Fritz Mayer van den Bergh - and a new building.

Collection highlights

• The Mayer van den Bergh Breviary, a late 15th-century or early 16th-century illustrated manuscript of 1412 pages, probably made for a rich Portuguese based in Antwerp. Various known and anonymous artists contributed the art to the manuscript including Gerard David, Simon Bening, the Master of James IV of Scotland, the Master of the First Prayer Book of Maximilian, Gerard Horenbout and Jan Provost.
• Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Dulle Griet (Mad Meg or Dull Gret), ca. 1562
• Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Proverbs
• Master Heinrich of Constance, Christ and Saint John Group, 14th century
• Pieter Huys, The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1577
• Jan Mabuse, Magdalen
• Quentin Matsys, Crucifixion
• A pleurant, 15th century.
• Angelo di Puccinelli, Saints Sebastian and Saint Leonard, 14th century
• Ambrosius Benson, Saint Jerome

Gallery

File:12th-century painters - Evangeliarum from Saint-Amand Abbey - WGA15832.jpg|Illumination from the 12th century Evangeliary from Saint-Amand Abbey File:Unknown painter - Virgin and Child Enthroned with Scenes from the Life of the Virgin - WGA23878.jpg|Virgin and Child Enthroned with Scenes from the Life of the Virgin (unknown master, Italian active in the 1270s) File:Unknown painter - Resurrection - WGA23559.jpg|Resurrection from the Antwerp-Baltimore Quadriptych, ca. 1380 File:Jan Gossaert - Lady Portrayed as Mary Magdalene - WGA09768.jpg|Lady Portrayed as Mary Magdalene by Jan Gossaert dit Mabuse File:VranckeVanDerStock-Pieta.jpg|Pietà by Vrancke van der Stockt, 15th century File:Cornelia or Elisabeth Vekemans - de Vos.jpg|Elisabeth Vekemans als meisje by Cornelis de Vos, ca. 1625 File:Willem Claesz. Heda - Still-Life - WGA11243.jpg|Still life by Willem Claeszoon Heda, 1637 File:St Georges à cheval - Musée Mayer Van den Berghe à Anvers.JPG|Statue of Saint George, ca. 1480-1499

Notes

References

1. [https://museummayervandenbergh.be/en/page/story-museum-and-family-residence The story of a museum and family residence] at the museum's official website
2. (12 October 1959). "Art: HIDDEN MASTERPIECES: Brueghel's Proverbs". Time.
3. [https://museummayervandenbergh.be/en/page/-reunited-family-residence Museum reunited with family residence] at the museum's official website