For the first time in a hundred years the priceless art collected by a German politician and financier in the first part of the 20th century is on show in Aachen.

Now is the time to sample such masterpieces as the painting of Rogier van der Weyden: The Birth of Christ with Female Donor and a priceless sculpture by Tilman Riemenschneider.

Both pieces of art belong to one of the best collection of renaissance art in Germany, originally founded by Fritz Thomée (1862 – 1944), a prominent German politician from Altena. It is one of the last of the many bourgeois collections amassed in Germany around that time, which is still in private hands.

Fritz Thomée came from a family of industrialists, but studied law. In 1902 he was appointed “Landrat” (local magistrate) in Altena, where he began the rebuilding of the Altena Castle in 1906. The medieval collection there, still on show, was a result of his work. Part of this collection was in fact bought from the Suermondt-Ludwig Museum in Aachen, which had acquired a huge collection of late-medieval art, which had belonged to a Richard Moost. Part of this had to be sold on in order to finance the future Suermondt-Ludwig Museum. Thus 40 pieces of renaissance wall-panels and two doors ended up at the castle of Altena, which also functioned as the first ever “Youth Hostel” in the world.

At the same time Fritz Thomée began to privately collect the art, which resulted in his magnificent collection. He bought his art at auctions as well as directly from art sellers. From the 1920s pieces of his collection were regularly lent to exhibitions in Germany.

During the war, his daughter Margaret walled up the collection in their villa in Altena. Later in the 50s it was divided between the heirs. A siginificant share went to her and later her son, the present owner, Werner Marks. Since the end of the 90s he has worked to recreate the collection through hard work and the generosity of his relatives. The collection now goes under the name, the Marks-Thomée Collection. In 1997 he wrote a dissertation of the collection.

The collection has not been exhibited since the 1950’s. However, now the time has come to show 100 pieces of the priceless art in the Suermondt-Ludwig Museum in Aachen.

The show presents paintings, sculptures, manuscripts and pieces of decorative art from Antiquity to the 19^th century, reaching from the Orient and into Spain. Focus, though, is on Late Medieval Sculpture from Westphalia. The Suermondt-Ludwig Museum in Aachen holds one of the most important collections of Medieval sculpture. It is housed in a villa, which belonged to another of the large industrialists of that time, the Haus Cassette and the exhibition complements the museum very nicely.

Highlights are:

Birth of Christ with female commissioner by Rogier van Der Weyden (1399/1400 – 1464) This painting is “sister” to the same scene in the Bladelin Altar from app. 1450, exhibited in Berlin at the Gemäldegallerie. Here the commissioner, though, is a man, Peter Bladelin, who was treasurer at the court of Philip the Good of Burgundy. © Bildarchiv Foto Marburg / Thomas Scheidt
A moment of Tranquility during the flight to Egypt. By Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502 – 1550) © Bildarchiv Foto Marburg / Thomas Scheidt

VISIT:

Sammlerglück! 100 Meisterwercke der Sammlaung Marks-Thomée
Suermondt-Ludwig Museum in Aachen
12.03.2015 – 21.06.2015

Sammlerglück: 100 Meisterwerke der Sammlung Marks-Thomée
by Michael Rief (Author), Thomas Fusenig
Belser Verlag 2015
ISBN-10: 3763026991
ISBN-13: 978-3763026999

Die Sammlung Thomée: Geschichte und Kunstwerke 1- 2 (Diss)
By Werner Marks
Technische Universität 2007

Medieval Histories

Marks-Thomée Collection of Renaissance and Medieval Art on Show

For the first time in a hundred years the priceless art collected by a German politician and financier in the first part of the 20th century is on show in Aachen.

Highlights are:

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