Frits Lugt

Born in Amsterdam in 1884, he showed an unusual gift for art history early on: as a teenager, he was already studying and writing about artists, and he went on to become one of the Netherlands’ best-known collectors and scholars of drawings and prints. His name is especially linked to old master works on paper, an area in which his eye, patience, and deep knowledge earned lasting respect.

Together with his wife Jacoba Klever, he built an important collection of drawings, prints, paintings, artists’ letters, and rare books. In 1947 they created the Fondation Custodia in Paris to preserve and share that collection, and it remains closely associated with his legacy.

He is also remembered for Les Marques de collections de dessins & d’estampes, a major reference on collectors’ marks that is still widely cited in the study of works on paper. He died in 1970, leaving behind both a major collection and a practical scholarly tool that continues to help researchers, curators, and collectors.