A national figure in Holland, Dr Dreesmann (1923-2000) uniquely combined a business career, an Economics professorship and a passion for collecting.
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann left a remarkable legacy in Holland that is still influential throughout the country. On his 75th birthday he founded the Anton Dreesmann Instituut voor Infopreneurship at the University of Amsterdam's Economics Faculty. Like his earlier generous gift to the Mauritshuis in The Hague, this aptly expressed his approach to life. The grandson of the co-founder of the department stores Vroom and Dreesmann, he was a true polymath: a tycoon who created Vendex International, an international business empire; an extremely well-read scholar who taught economics at the University of Amsterdam; and a passionate, wide-ranging collector of pictures and drawings, furniture, glass, silver, Chinese export porcelain and works of art.
This distinguished tycoon had a secret weapon: an unerring, almost photographic memory. He read maddeningly fast and retained what he learnt (at university he read law and then economics). He swiftly acquired deep knowledge in the different fields of his interests. He brought fresh energy and insight to a tradition established by his grandfather, who collected on a modest scale, and his father, Willem, whose splendid collection of works of art, including a whole section particularly related to the city of Amsterdam, was dispersed in 1960.
Dr Dreesmann's sense of history, insatiable curiosity, independent spirit, worldwide travel and comprehensive taste and knowledge combined to inform his business career, to attract economics students to his witty, direct and highly personal lectures, and to spur his lifelong quest for beautiful and rare objects from across a wide spectrum.
Nowhere was this more evident than in his home hidden in the woods in Amsterdam's residential suburb of Laren. Each work of art had its place. The dining room, for instance, was surrounded by cabinets displaying his magnificent glass, silver and Chinese porcelain. He could recall precisely how and when he acquired each object. A man not given to unnecessary words, he could be an inspiring conversationalist for those who shared his interests. Possessing strong principles, he had a weakness for beautiful works of art. He considered expensive clothes and conspicuous consumption a waste of money - but for a rare object he was prepared to pay. The library was full of books on art, literature, philosophy and World War II - a reference library of some 10,000 volumes which provides a telling insight into his passion for information and for background detail about everything he collected. In parallel, he assembled a choice collection of antiquarian books, starting with topographical works on Holland or archetypal Dutch publications of the 17th and 18th centuries, then developing into travel (a complete set of Cook's Voyages), science (a fine 2nd Basel edition of Copernicus and several editions of Euclid's Geometrica, 1482 and 1594) and economics (Malthus, Ricardo and Smith).
As Christie's specialists worked in the house on preparing their own sections of the inventory, each was struck afresh by the breadth of culture expressed by the library. This aspect is discussed in the individual articles on the following pages, the Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection of Old Master Pictures (page 28), Old Master Drawings (page 34), Furniture and Works of Art (page 46), Impressionist and Modern Art (page 40), Gold Boxes and Miniatures (page 44) and a rich miscellany of other objects (page 52).
Dr Dreesmann's late Roman and Byzantine coins were sold at auction in London two years ago. Otherwise the Collection is now offered to the public in its entirety with only two significant omissions. Like so many collectors, Dr Dreesmann never parted with any object in his lifetime - except for the designs for the Golden Carriage by Nicolaas van der Waay (1855-1936), which he presented to Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard. The other notable omission from the sale is his first purchase, a Dutch cabinet acquired in 1955. It remains in the family for sentimental reasons.
In its breadth the Dreesmann Collection is traditional in the best sense. Unprecedented in Holland, it is of a kind more usually associated with the notable collections formed by earlier generations of connoisseurs in Europe or the United States. We at Christie's hope that the series of five catalogues we have prepared will serve to commemorate the inspiration of this passionate collector.
Noël Annesley is Chairman of the International Fine Art Specialist Group, Christie's.
Jop Ubbens is Chairman of Christie's Amsterdam.
