The Amsterdam dealer Hans Le Thoor at the court of Emperor Rudolf II

Abstract

Hans Le Thoor of Amsterdam is known as a versatile art dealer, who conducted business in the Netherlands. In 1620 he made an ill-fated attempt to sell Dutch paintings to the King of Denmark, Christian IV (1577–1648), with the help of the ‘painter and spy’ Pieter Isaacsz (1569–1625). This study draws attention to the fact that, before this interesting episode, Le Thoor had been active in Central Europe in dealings with Emperor Rudolf II (1552–1612). The inventories of the Rudolfine collections list exotic objects, naturalia and Chinese paintings delivered by Le Thoor to the court in Prague in 1609. His experience in Prague had a bearing on the later attempted sale to the Danish king, to whom Le Thoor also tried to sell Rudolfine paintings that he had acquired in Brussels between 1618 and 1620 at the partial sell-off of the collection of Rudolf’s brother Archduke Albrecht (1559–1621). New information on Le Thoor’s life and business strategies has come to light through study of archival sources relating to his activities with the Habsburgs. As presented here, these findings advance our knowledge of the mode of operation and scale of international dealer networks in Le Thoor’s time.