Carl Jacobsen og wilhelm hansen, to markante k⊘benhavnske mæcener

Abstract

Summary Carl Jacobsen and Wilhelm Hansen, two prominent patrons of the arts in Copenhagen At the turn of the century two outstanding Danes, the brewer Carl Jacobsen (1842–1914) and the insurance company director Wilhelm Hansen (1868–1936), each became exclusive patrons of art. Even though Carl Jacobsen had a world famous collection of art from antiquity, the emphasis here deals with Jacobsen as founder of a museum with a collection of contemporary art, available to the public at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek since 1897. Wilhelm Hansen's art collection was open to the public in his home at Ordrupgaard from 1918–1923 and became a museum in 1953. Both men were ardent art collectors of contemporary French art—Jacobsen favouring sculpture with Hansen inclined towards painting—and both were founders of museums, but their personalities greatly differed. Thus Jacobsen, second generation of the Carlsberg dynasty, created his collection for the public with an educational principle as the predominant feature. Hansen, a self‐made man with a natural flair and genuine enthusiasm for contemporary art, created his collection of Danish and French art based on a strong desire to establish a unique personal collection, which he opened to the public on a secondary basis. In 1923 a twist of fate necessitated the sale of half of Hansen's French collection and some works of art were obtained by the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Meanwhile two foreign collectors, Oskar Reinhart from Switzerland and Kojiro Matsukata from Japan, acquired the major part. The Matsukata collection has since then been resold several times. A reconstruction of the original Ordrupgaard Collection is currently being undertaken by this author.