Louisa Holthuysen

Louisa Holthuysen
Miniature portrait of Louisa Holthuysen with her Maltese lion dog, c. 1840-1860
Born	28 November 1824 Amsterdam
Died	30 January 1895 Amsterdam
Nationality	Kingdom of the Netherlands

Sandrina Louisa Geertruida Holthuysen (1824 – 1895) was a Dutch art collector and founder of the Museum Willet-Holthuysen in Amsterdam.

Biography

Holthuysen was born in Amsterdam in the Netherlands as the only child of Pieter Gerard Holthuysen, a wealthy merchant who dealt in window glass and coal. Her father died in 1858 and in 1861 she married Abraham Willet and they proceeded to live a bohemian lifestyle, enjoying travel and art collecting. The art collection included items bought by her, of which the most expensive painting was a still-life by Blaise Alexandre Desgoffe that cost 5,000 guilders.

Holthuysen died childless in Amsterdam in 1895, a few years after her husband. Her house and its contents, including the artworks, were left to the City of Amsterdam, conditional upon the building being used as a museum named after her and her husband.

Gallery

• 
  Still-life by Blaise-Alexandre Desgoffe
• 
  The parlour of the Willet-Holthuysens in their summer villa in Le Vésinet, by Coen Metzelaar
• 
  A Young Mother in the costume of the Campagna by William-Adolphe Bouguereau
• 
  Louise Holthuysen, ca. 1864
• 
  The parlour of the A. Willet-Holthuysen house, Herengracht 605, by Willem Steelink Jr., 1882

Further reading

• vam Eeghen, I. H. (1952). "1952 MAANDBLAD JAARGANG 39" (PDF). Maandblad Amstelodammum (in Dutch) (39). Het museum Willet-Holthuysen: 81–86. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-17. Retrieved 2017-02-22.

External links

• Museum Willet-Holthuysen (Dutch)