Jacques Goudstikker
Jacques Goudstikker was a Jewish Dutch art dealer who fled Holland when it was invaded by Nazis during World War II, leaving over 30 "Old Masters" which were looted by the Nazis. "Between the two World Wars, Jacques Goudstikker was probably the most important Netherlandish dealer of Old Master paintings", according to Peter C. Sutton, executive director and CEO of the Bruce Museum of Arts and Science. [1] The Dutch government restored the paintings to the Goudstikker family in 2006, and they were sold at auction in 2007 for almost $10 million. [2]
Goudstikker was the son of an art dealer, Eduard Goudstikker. He studied at the Commercial School in Amsterdam, and more intensely with Wilhelm Martin and William Vogelsang at Leiden and Utrecht. In 1919 he joined his father's Amsterdam gallery, introduced a notably more international style; publishing catalogs in French rather than Dutch, and showing for the first time Italian Renaissance paintings, including The Madonna and Child by Francesco Squarcione. This was revolutionary in Holland of the time, where in 1906, Dr. Adriaan Pit , the director of the Rijksmuseum, had stated "We have become chauvinistic with regard to the field of art. This worship of our old school of painting, which started thirty years ago is still alive and appears not to let us appreciate any foreign art." [3]
Following World War I, Amsterdam once again became a center of international commerce, and Goudstikker flourished, along with fellow art dealers, Jelle Taeke de Boer, and Henri Douwes. Goudstikker rose above his contemporaries, however in presenting works from the Dutch Golden Age alongside panels by 14th century, 15th century and 16th century Dutch, Flemish, German and Italian painters, mixing paintings, sculptures, carpets, and other works of art together, in the sophisticated style of Wilhelm von Bode of Berlin, much emulated in London, Parios, and New York.