Antoine Seilern

Count Antoine Seilern (17 September 1901 – 6 July 1978) was an Anglo-Austrian art collector and art historian. He was considered, along with Sir Denis Mahon, to be one of a handful of important collectors who was also a respected scholar. The bulk of his collection was bequeathed anonymously to the Courtauld Institute of Art. Known as the "Princes Gate bequest", most of it is on display at the Courtauld Gallery in London.

Early life

Count Antoine Edward Seilern und Aspang was born on 17 September 1901 at Frensham Place, Farnham, in Surrey, England. He was the youngest of the three sons of Count Carl Seilern und Aspang (1866–1940) and the American heiress Antoinette "Nettie" née Woerishoffer (1875–1901). The heirs of Curt Glaser, a Jewish art collector persecuted by Nazis, requested the return of eight drawing by Lovis Corinth, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Giuseppe Bernardino Bison, Giovanni Battista Crosato, Domenico Fossati and Domenico Piola that Seilern had gifted to the Courtauld in 1978. Seilern had acquired them at the Berlin auction on May 18 and May 19, 1933. The U.K. Spoiliation Advisory panel decided against the heirs in 2009.

Death Seilern died in hospital in London in the early hours of 6 July 1978; he was 76. He was buried on 13 July in the churchyard in Frensham, Surrey.