Hubert Meersmans de Smet

Description

Hubert Meersmans de Smet (1854-1938) was born in Tervuren, a picturesque town near Brussels. Throughout his life he combined business success with an intense artistic vocation. At the end of the 19th century he settled in Granada, where he promoted numerous industrial and cultural projects (Cohen, 2011). However, beyond his role as an entrepreneur, what made him an outstanding figure was his passion for collecting. The fortune he amassed thanks to his business in the mining industry in Granada and Almería allowed him to devote himself entirely to art. In 1910 he ordered the construction of a building on the grounds of Carmen de los Mártires and commissioned the architect Modesto Cendoya (Álvarez Lopera, 1977) to design a museum. There he formed one of the most remarkable private collections in southern Spain, which included more than 3,000 pieces: sculptures, furniture, tapestries, jewelry, weapons and paintings populated his residence (Meersmans Sánchez-Jofré, 2019). As a result of the economic crisis of 1929 Meersmans was forced to sell his estate to the Duke of Infantado, which marked the beginning of the dispersion of his collection. However, his legacy was not extinguished. His nephew and adopted son, Huberto Meersmans de Page, continued his artistic business (Meersmans Sánchez-Jofré, 2020).

Bibliography

• ÁLVAREZ LOPERA, José (1977): "La Alhambra entre la conservación y la restauración (1905-1915)", nº 14, Cuadernos de Arte de la Universidad de Granada, pp. 7-228.
• COHEN AMSELEM, Arón (2011): "Hubert Meersmans de Smet (1854-1938)", en Cien empresarios andaluces, coordinado por José Antonio Parejo, LID Editorial Empresarial, Córdoba, pp. 364-370.
• MEERSMANS SÁNCHEZ-JOFRÉ, José Manuel (2020): "Hubert Meersmans de Smet: coleccionista, mecenas y comerciante de arte; la recuperación de un patrimonio cultural legado en el tiempo", en Coleccionismo, mecenazgo y mercado artístico: Orbis Terrarum, coordinado por Antonio Holguera Cabrera, Ester Prieto Ustio y María Uriondo Lozano., Universidad de Sevilla, Secretariado de Recursos Audiovisuales y Nuevas Tecnologías, Sevilla.
• MEERSMANS SÁNCHEZ-JOFRÉ, José Manuel (2019): "Los proyectos culturales de la familia Meersmans en la Alhambra", en Monumento y Modernidad 1868-1936 en el 150 aniversario de la Alhambra como bien cultural, coordinado por Javier Piñar Samos y Miguel Giménez Yanguas , Junta de Andalucía, Granada, pp. 233-238.