Treasure trove Collection Neutelings
EXHIBITION
ONGOING DISPLAY
Ongoing
12th – 16th century. The Neutelings Collection comprises the bequest of collector Willem Neutelings (1916-1986), who focused from the 1960s onwards on collecting medieval religious art objects. His collecting decisions were based on aesthetics and quality, and were often motivated by religious aspects. Henk van Os, former director of the Rijksmuseum, described the collection as "of exceptional quality and diversity, and collected with obvious love and care".
The Neutelings Collection covers West- European sculpture and works of art from the Middle Ages. The collection can be divided into several sub-collections: French enamel from the Limousin region, gothic ivory panels and diptychs from Paris and Northern France, panels from alabaster retables from the Nottingham region, marble and stone sculpture from France, Germany and the Netherlands, and wooden retables and retable fragments from Flanders and Brabant.
Willem Neutelings was very aware of the uniqueness of his collection, even dreaming of having his own museum. His wife and children were also aware of this, and wanted to respect his wish to found his own museum as far as possible. Today, three decades after the death of Willem Neutelings, this wish has been fulfilled in the form of Neutelings' own treasury in the Bonnefantenmuseum. This will do justice to the museum quality of the artworks, whilst also retaining the homely intimacy that was such a feature of the collector's approach to the collection.
