Benjamin Altman

Benjamin Altman (July 12, 1840 – October 7, 1913) was a New York City department store owner and art collector who is best known today for his large art collection, which he donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[1]

Benjamin Altman
Altman by Ellen Emmet Rand
Born(1840-07-12)July 12, 1840
New York City
DiedOctober 7, 1913(1913-10-07) (aged 73)
New York City
NationalityAmerican
Signature

Life and career

Benjamin Altman was born on July 12, 1840,[2] the son of Bavarian Jews who emigrated to America in 1835 and opened a small store on Attorney Street in New York City. After working in his father's dry goods store, Altman set out on his own. In 1865, Altman founded B. Altman and Company, a dry goods store located on Third Avenue and 10th Street in New York City. Over the years, the store grew in prosperity and expanded to several other locations. In 1877, a large storefront opened on Sixth Avenue; dubbed the "Palace of Trade" for its lavish architecture, Altman's store was one of the first to display clothing for different ages in different areas. In 1906, the B. Altman and Company Building opened on Fifth Avenue.[3]

Altman used his wealth to fund various initiatives in his native city. Shortly before his death on October 7, 1913,[4] he founded the Altman Foundation, a charity to support educational institutions in New York City.[5]

Art collections and portraits

Benjamin Altman was an avid collector of Rembrandt paintings and Oriental porcelain, much of which he acquired through his friend, art dealer Henry J. Duveen. He was often advised in his painting purchases by Max Friedlander. Upon his death, he donated the collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The painting collection alone was notable for including the museum's first Vermeer and 20 Rembrandts, though a few have since been devoted and reattributed. The collection also contains notable portraits of Flemish and German merchants from the Renaissance.[6]

Paintings in the bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913
image title painter date accession number The Met url
 Man with a Steel Gorget Style of Rembrandt 1648 14.40.601 MET
 Yonker Ramp and his sweetheart Frans Hals 1623 14.40.602 MET
 Old Woman in an Armchair Jacob Adriaensz Backer 1640 14.40.603 MET
 The Fingernail Test Frans Hals
Judith Leyster		 1626 14.40.604 MET
 Shrovetide Revellers Frans Hals 1616 14.40.605 MET
 Saint Justina of Padua Bartolomeo Montagna 14.40.606 MET
 Self-Portrait Gerrit Dou 1665 14.40.607 MET
 Rembrandt's Son Titus Style of Rembrandt 1680s 14.40.608 MET
 Old Woman Cutting Her Nails Style of Rembrandt 1650s 14.40.609 MET
 Pilate Washing His Hands Style of Rembrandt 1660s 14.40.610 MET
 A Girl Asleep Johannes Vermeer 1657 14.40.611 MET
 Young Woman Peeling Apples Nicolaes Maes 1655 14.40.612 MET
 Interior with a Young Couple Pieter de Hooch 1662 14.40.613 MET
 Entrance to a Village Meindert Hobbema 1690s 14.40.614 MET
 Portrait of a Woman, Called the Marchesa Durazzo Anthony van Dyck 14.40.615 MET
 Young Herdsmen with Cows Aelbert Cuyp 14.40.616 MET
 A Woman Playing the Theorbo-Lute and a Cavalier Gerard ter Borch 14.40.617 MET
 Self portrait Rembrandt 1660 14.40.618 MET
 Lucas van Uffel (died 1637) Anthony van Dyck 1624s 14.40.619 MET
 Portrait of a man with gloves in hand Rembrandt 1648 14.40.620 MET
 Man with a Magnifying Glass Rembrandt 1660s 14.40.621 MET
 Woman with a Pink Rembrandt 1660s 14.40.622 MET
 Wheat Fields Jacob van Ruisdael 1670 14.40.623 MET
 Portrait of a Man ("The Auctioneer") Follower of Rembrandt 1658 14.40.624 MET
 Portrait of a Woman Rembrandt 1633 14.40.625 MET
 Portrait of Maria Portinari Hans Memling 1470 14.40.626–27 MET
 The Crucifixion Fra Angelico 14.40.628 MET
 Young Woman with a Pearl Necklace after Willem Drost; bequeathed as a Rembrandt in 1913 1654 14.40.629 MET
 Ulrich Fugger (1490–1525) Hans Maler zu Schwaz 1525 14.40.630 MET
 The Supper at Emmaus Diego Velázquez 14.40.631 MET
 Virgin and Child with Angels Bernard van Orley 14.40.632 MET
 Virgin and Child with Saint Anne Albrecht Dürer 1519 14.40.633 MET
 Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine Hans Memling 1479 14.40.634 MET
 Madonna and Child with Angels Workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio 1500s 14.40.635 MET
 Christ Taking Leave of His Mother Gerard David 14.40.636 MET
 Lady Lee (Margaret Wyatt, born about 1509) Workshop of Hans Holbein the Younger 1540s 14.40.637 MET
 Federigo Gonzaga (1500–1540) Francesco Francia 1510 14.40.638 MET
 Philip IV (1605–1665), King of Spain Diego Velázquez 14.40.639 MET
 Portrait of a Man Titian 1512 14.40.640 MET
 Madonna and Child with Saint Joseph and an Angel Raffaellino del Garbo 14.40.641 MET
 The Last Communion of Saint Jerome Sandro Botticelli 1495 14.40.642 MET
 The Holy Family with Saint Mary Magdalen Andrea Mantegna 1495 14.40.643 MET
 Portrait of a Man Dieric Bouts 1470 14.40.644 MET
 Portrait of a Young Man Antonello da Messina 14.40.645 MET
 Lady Rich (Elizabeth Jenks, died 1558) Workshop of Hans Holbein the Younger 1540 14.40.646 MET
 Madonna and Child Workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio 1470 14.40.647 MET
 Portrait of an old man Hans Memling 1475 14.40.648 MET
 Portrait of a Young Man Cosimo Tura 14.40.649 MET
 Portrait of Cardinal Filippo Archinto Titian 14.40.650 MET
 Bathsheba at her Toilette Rembrandt 1643 14.40.651 MET
 Changing Pasture Anton Mauve 14.40.810 MET
 The Ferryman Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot 1865s 14.40.811 MET
 Twilight Anton Mauve 14.40.812 MET
 A Pond in Picardy Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot 14.40.813 MET
 A Path among the Rocks Théodore Rousseau 14.40.814 MET
 The Banks of the Oise Charles-François Daubigny 1863 14.40.815 MET
 The Return to the Fold Anton Mauve 14.40.816 MET
 A Lane through the Trees Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot 14.40.817 MET
 A River Landscape with Storks Charles-François Daubigny 1864 14.40.818 MET
 The Edge of the Woods Narcisse Virgilio Díaz 1872 14.40.819 MET

There is a portrait of Altman in the New York State Museum in Albany; it was painted by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862–1947) and donated to the New York Chamber of Commerce by Altman's business partner Michael Friedsam. Müller-Ury knew Altman personally as a client of art dealer Henry Duveen. He was compelled to paint from a photograph after Altman's death. He first completed a 50 x 40 (inch) portrait of Altman seated in his gallery with a Rembrandt behind him and a Chinese vase on a table beside him, but the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for whom this had been painted, chose another portrait of Altman by Ellen Emmet Rand also made from a photograph, and Müller-Ury's larger work went to the Foundation offices; it has since disappeared.[7]

References
  1. Bernard Sachs (1913). Tribute to the Memory of Benjamin Altman, Delivered by Dr. B. Sachs at Temple Emanu-El, New York, Friday, October Tenth, MCMXIII.
  2. Hall, Henry (1895). America's Successful Men of Affairs: The city of New York. New York Tribune. altman.
  3. Abrams, Jeanne. "Benjamin Altman." In Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present, vol. 2, edited by William J. Hausman. German Historical Institute. Last modified November 14, 2013.
  4. "Benj. Altman Dies, Leaves $45,000,000; A Leader Among Merchants and the Owner of Art Objects Worth $15,000,000". The New York Times. October 8, 1913. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  5. "For an Altman Foundation; Bill to Incorporate It Specifies Welfare Plan as Part of Project". The New York Times. February 6, 1913. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  6. Haskell, Francis (1970). "The Benjamin Altman Bequest". Metropolitan Museum Journal. 3: 259–280. doi:10.2307/1512607. JSTOR 1512607. S2CID 191400265. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  7. American Art News, Vol. 13, No. 1 (October 10, 1914), pp. 1
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