Frans Hals Museum presented a gift worth more than 100 million euros

Haarlem. - Representatives of the Elizabeth von Thuringen Foundation donated eleven works of art dating from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries to the city of Haarlem and the Frans Hals Museum. The official transmission of one of the largest gifts in the history of the museum took place on April 15 at the Frans Hals Museum. Among the works presented as a gift is a large group portrait of the regents of a nursing home in Haarlem by Frans Hals. The total value of the gift exceeded 100 million euros. The aforementioned works of art can be seen at the exhibition “The magnificent gesture of goodwill,” which will be held in Haarlem until July 10, 2011.

It is noteworthy that the trustees of the Elizabeth von Thuringen Foundation are direct descendants of the people depicted in the group portrait of Frans Hals “Regents of the Hospital of St. Elizabeth” and on the canvas of the second leading Harlem portrait painter Johannes Verspronck “Regents of the hospital St. Elizabeth in Haarlem. " Until today, the foundation has periodically loaned both paintings to the museum for the duration of the exhibitions. Now, thanks to the unusually generous gesture of the trustees, the most important of these masterpieces have become the property of the city of Haarlem and part of the museum’s collection. Museum director Karel Schampers admitted that "the value of this gift is invaluable if only for the reason that the landmark works of such great painters as Hals and Verspronck are now in the possession of the museum and will never hit the market."

What prompted the trustees of the Elizabeth von Thuringen Foundation to make such a generous gesture? As Peter Van Barneveld, senior trustee of the foundation and chairman of the board at Kennemer Gasthuis Hospital in Haarlem, explained, “These masterpieces belong to the cultural heritage of Haarlem and the Netherlands. Our task is to preserve the great creations of our ancestors for future generations in the form in which they have come down to us. The best place for this heritage is the Frans Hals Museum. Museum workers will be able to save the masterpieces in proper form, as well as present them to the public exactly as they deserve. ”

The collection of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital (now Kennemer Gasthuis Hospital) was created about 400 years ago. In 1977, paintings and historical works of art passed into the ownership of a foundation named after Elizabeth von Thuringen. Members of the foundation are representatives of the Kennemer Gasthuis Hospital and local Harlem authorities.

In addition to the aforementioned paintings by Hals and Verspron, the museum was given two works by Martin van Heemskerck, as well as the works of Dirck Hals, Cornelis van Harlem, Nicholas Roosendaal (Nicolaes Roosendaal), and Adola Adriaan Backer), Frans Decker and follower Joachim Patenier. In addition, the trustees of the foundation donated a decorated casket to the Frans Hals Museum, in which the Statute of the Hospital of Saint Elizabeth was kept from 1625.

Canvases “Regents of the Hospital of St. Elizabeth” painted by Frans Hals and “View of Rome with the Good Samaritan” by Martin van Hemskerk will be restored and presented at the exhibition in the Frans Hals Museum in the near future.

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