Frédéric Spitzer

Description

Frédéric Spitzer (1815-1890) was born in Vienna. After completing his army training he became interested in art, acquiring an engraving by Dürer that he sold shortly thereafter. In the 1840s he moved to London to trade with the Rothschilds and later settled in Paris in 1852 (Cordera, 2015). Although he sold works of art of all kinds, he was particularly interested in medieval and Renaissance art. He partnered with Reinhold Vasters, a goldsmith who altered and forged pieces (Hackenbroch, 1984) with the aim of selling them on the market as authentic. Shortly after his death his collection was sold at Chevallier & Mannheim (Paris) and Anderson Galleries (New York).

Bibliography

• CORDERA, Paola (2015): La Fabbrica del Rinascimento. Frédéric Spitzer mercante d’arte e collezionista nell’Europa delle nuove Nazioni, Universidad de Bolonia, Bolonia.
• CORDERA, Paola (2015): "Forging the Renaissance on the use of glass pieces in Spritzer's (in)famous collection", nº 3, Revista de História da Arte, pp. 94-105.
• HACKENBROCH, Yvonne (1984): "Reinhold Vasters, Goldsmith", vol. 1920, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Journal.