Our Story

As a 10 year old boy growing up in Amsterdam, I went with my school to visit the Rijksmuseum for museum classes. The classtour went past all the wonderful works of art you can still see today and when we arrived at Rembrandt’s “Isaac and Rebecca“, also known as “the Jewish Bride“, I stopped in my tracks and was mesmerized by it. Of course, I did not know exactly what I was looking at, but was somehow filled with emotions.

One day in November 1994, I was reading an article in the International Herald Tribune about an upcoming auction of Dutch old masters taking place in New York; the paintings belonged to the New-York Historical Society. As I read I thought: Wow, you can still buy Dutch old master paintings? The idea intrigued me.

I was naive and had never considered the notion that one could still buy old masters. And if some topic piques my interest, I want to find out as much as I can about it. How a simple newspaper article can change one’s life.

So I called an old acquaintance in Amsterdam (an art dealer) and asked: “what is this auction all about? Is this something interesting?” – He answered: “I don’t think there is anything terribly exciting as far as paintings,’ he said, ‘but I’m planning on going to the auction”. “Okay, well, if you see something interesting, let me know?’ Then I added, ‘By the way, I’ll be in Amsterdam in January and I’ll stop by your gallery. Let’s have a cup of coffee, and you can tell me about this stuff.”

Making such an impulsive purchase was extremely uncharacteristic of me. I had never bought original artwork in my life, only some cheap reproductions of colorful modern art (by Karel Appel ) to hang in my apartment as a student. Yet there I was, buying the little sketch – and paying real money for it. I took the painting home, walked in proudly with my purchase tucked under my arm, and showed it to Ilone.

“What is that?” she said. “It’s an original painting by Govert Flinck, a Rembrandt pupil. What do you think?” I said. “I don’t like it at all”… She had studied art in high school and liked Impressionist works – the grand, bright, and colorful paintings of flower gardens, water lilies, lakes, and lovely landscapes. Here was a small, dark painting on wood of an old man with a beard. And when I told her how much I’d agreed to pay for it, she was stunned and was convinced I’d lost my mind.

For me, however, it was an exciting purchase. I now had in my possession a work of art by a painter who had learned his trade from the great Rembrandt, and who in his own right was considered an important artist! The thought of owning a painting that was created 350 years ago by someone recognized as an old master, a famous name, was wonderful – until I lay down and started stirring in my bed. I couldn’t sleep that night: I had just paid a lot of money for a little piece of wood with some paint on it. That was how I felt then…

In retrospect, that decision was sort of a watershed. In a way, that first purchase was the biggest step I would take toward collecting.