Victor de Stuers

Victor de Stuers, painted by P. de Josselin de Jong.

Victor Eugène Louis de Stuers (20 October 1843, Maastricht – 21 March 1916, Den Haag) was a Dutch art historian, lawyer, civil servant and politician. He was highly active in the cultural field – he is widely regarded as the father of historic preservation in the Netherlands, played a notable part in keeping Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring in the Netherlands and chose the architect Pierre Cuypers (a fellow Catholic and fellow Limburger) to design the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Life

Self portrait (1869)

Education and career

He studied law in Leiden and is still known there for his drawings in the old tower of the Academy building (Academiegebouw). After graduation he became a lawyer in The Hague but continued his interests in art and preservation science, joining several committees on art restoration.

Rijksmuseum

He was the first head of a conservation department in the Dutch government and his department was later renamed Monuments after he died.[1]

Marriage and issue

In 1893 he married Aurelia Carolina, countess van Limburg Stirum and lady van de Wiersse (1853–1906) – they had one child, Alice de Stuers, lady van de Wiersse (1895–1988), who married William Edward Gatacre (1878–1953) in 1926.

Works

  • Da capo. Een woord over regeering, kunst en oude monumenten. 's-Gravenhage, Thieme, 1875.
  • Beknopte beschrijving van de kunstvoorwerpen, tentoongesteld in het Koninklijk kabinet van schilderijen te 's-Gravenhage. 's Gravenhage, 1875.
  • Het Binnenhof en 's lands gebouwen in de residentie. 's Gravenhage, Van Stockum, 1891.

References

  1. ↑ Stuers in the Dictionary of Art Historians

Bibliography

  • J.A.C. Tillema (1982): Victor de Stuers : ideeën van een individualist, Assen, uitgeverij Van Gorcum
  • Jos Perry (2004): Ons fatsoen als natie – Victor de Stuers 1843–1916, Amsterdam, uitgeverij Sun
House of Representatives of the Netherlands
Preceded by
Jan Truijen		 Member for Weert
1901–1916		 Succeeded by
Henri van Groenendael
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