Hans Rudolf Gerstenmaier, the late German businessman and collector, who lived in Spain was known for his holdings of Flemish paintings. Following a last-minute modification to the collector’s will, a selection of works from his collection will find a new life at a Spanish museum.
41 paintings and engravings from Gerstenmaier’s have been gifted to the Museu de Belles Arts de València. The gifts included figurative works and still lifes by Peter Paul Rubens, Hendrick Goltzius, Jan Brueghel the Elder, Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen, Martin de Vos, and other artists, and the bequest follows Gerstenmaier’s gift of 11 works to the Prado Museum in Madrid in 2019.
One of the most significant addition to the institution collection was Rubens’s Virgin of Cumberland painting . “The Museum of Fine Arts could never have thought of buying that Rubens because it doesn’t have enough budget”, Pablo González Tornel, director of the Museu de Belles Arts de València, said.
Museu de Belles Arts de València plans to open a gallery dedicated to the works in the donation. “We will reorganize the first floor of the permanent collection to have a room that will be very interesting,” González Tornel said.