In their own words: Objects of obsession from a group of young collectors at the forefront of a new collecting culture.
Skaters on a Canal near the Plomptoren in Utrecht by Salomon van Ruysdael
I was fortunate to acquire this wonderful painting by Salomon van Ruysdael at Christie’s, from the Ann and Gordon Getty Collection. I was particularly drawn to the painting for several reasons. First, this work was very personal to Ann Getty, as her mother was of Dutch heritage. Ann Getty had, over decades, assembled one of the world’s preeminent private collections of fine and decorative arts, and she had a fairly small and focused collection of Dutch master paintings.
This was, in my opinion, one of the best. So, for me, the provenance was exceptional. (Having grown up in San Francisco, the city where Ann Getty was based and had a huge cultural presence, greatly influenced my own collecting on multiple fronts. I’m very pleased to be able to share the painting with others, as it has just gone on loan to the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.) Provenance was greatly important for Ann Getty as well, and her collection and how she assembled it told a story. The collectors that I’ve always admired the most are those whose collections reflect their distinctive style and convey their personality. William Randolph Hearst, J. P. Morgan, Henry Clay Frick—these collectors didn’t just amass expensive items; they had a passion for what they acquired that was
reflected in their overall collections.
Second, I’ve always been an immense fan of Salomon van Ruysdael. I love his intense and dramatic skies, which he clearly depicted in this painting. Here, there’s something so beautiful about how the sky meets the horizon. Winter scenes are incredibly rare in his otherwise expansive body of work, accounting for only twenty of his known paintings, a fact that made this example even more enticing for me.
Third, unlike a lot of collectors who focus on one genre or period of art or furniture, I simply adore beautiful things regardless of period or country of origin. It ultimately comes down to whether I love something, and what I love about this painting is that it’s a window into mid-seventeenth-century Dutch life. How exciting to think about where it has been, to envision all the people who had it on their wall over the centuries, to imagine all that has happened in its presence since it was painted. Having a piece of the past in my home makes me feel a strong connection to history, as if I could literally be transported back to a Dutch winter in 1660. It’s a spectacular painting.
JUSTIN FICHELSON is a passionate collector of Old Masters and decorative arts and serves as a member of the Paintings Council at the J. Paul Getty Museum and as a Wrightsman Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He recently was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to the California Council for the Humanities Board of Directors.
