THE WORLD

THE WORLD’S SUPER-COLLECTORS

From the Medicis to the Microsoft billionaires, money makes the art world go round

Bill Gates (personal fortune: $43 billion) buys 19th-century American painters, in 1998 paying $36 million for Winslow Homer's Lost on the Grand Banks, and $25 million for George Bellows' Polo Crowd the following year. Such high prices are perhaps tantamount to a statement that American art is just as good as European impressionist or post-impressionist art. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (personal fortune: $25 billion) has a bigger and better collection, however, littered with old masters and impressionists.

Bio: William (Bill) H. Gates is chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. Microsoft had revenues of US$28.37 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2002, and employs more than 50,000 people in 78 countries and regions. Born on Oct. 28, 1955, Gates grew up in Seattle with his two sisters. Their father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent, and chairwoman of United Way International. Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13. In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's chief executive officer. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair. In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Guided by a belief that the computer would be valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers. Gates' foresight and his vision for personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry. Under Gates' leadership, Microsoft's mission has been to continually advance and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers.

The company is committed to a long-term view, reflected in its investment of more than $4 billion on research and development in the current fiscal year. In 1999, Gates wrote Business @ the Speed of Thought, a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in fundamentally new ways. The book was published in 25 languages and is available in more than 60 countries. Business @ the Speed of Thought has received wide critical acclaim, and was listed on the best-seller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com. Gates' previous book, The Road Ahead, published in 1995, held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times' bestseller list for seven weeks. Gates has donated the proceeds of both books to non-profit organizations that support the use of technology in education and skills development. In addition to his love of computers and software, Gates is interested in biotechnology. He sits on the board of ICOS, a company that specializes in protein-based and small-molecule therapeutics, and he is an investor in a number of other biotechnology companies. Gates also founded Corbis, which is developing one of the world's largest resources of visual information - a comprehensive digital archive of art and photography from public and private collections around the globe. In addition, Gates has invested with cellular telephone pioneer Craig McCaw in Teledesic, which is working on an ambitious plan to employ hundreds of low-orbit satellites to provide a worldwide two-way broadband telecommunications service.

Philanthropy is also important to Gates. He and his wife, Melinda, have endowed a foundation with more than $24 billion to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of global health and learning, with the hope that as we move into the 21st century, advances in these critical areas will be available for all people. To date, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed more than $2.5 billion to organizations working in global health; more than $1.4 billion to improve learning opportunities, including the Gates Library Initiative to bring computers, Internet Access and training to public libraries in low-income communities in the United States and Canada; more than $260 million to community projects in the Pacific Northwest; and more than $381 million to special projects and annual giving campaigns. Gates was married on Jan. 1, 1994, to Melinda French Gates. They have three children. Gates is an avid reader, and enjoys playing golf and bridge.

Dynasty of 15th-century farmers turned golden rulers of Florence who, between them, commissioned works by Fra Angelico, Michelangelo, Botticelli and Leonardo. All were wild spenders but Lorenzo (1449-1492), chum of Machiavelli, was wildest of all. The Medici collection of about 4,800 objects was bequeathed to the city of Florence in 1743 and exhibited at the Florentine Palace, where it remains.

Tomb of Giuliano de' Medici
1526-33
Marble, 630 x 420 cm
Sagrestia Nuova, San Lorenzo, Florence

Aka the very first owner of the Mona Lisa. Upon Leonardo's death in 1519, 'La Gioconda' was left to the great painter's close friend and patron Francois, who hung it in the bathroom at Fontainebleau. Francois had so many paintings in his private quarters, the area was converted into a semi-public art gallery - and the Louvre's great collection was born.

Began collecting in 1764 (largely by buying other people's collections whole) and quickly acquired many hundreds of important works: by Rubens, Rembrandt, Titian, Raphael, Van Dyck etc. Commissioned Joshua Reynolds to paint a picture glorifying Russian power - The Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpents - and died leaving a hoard of 10,000 drawings, 10,000 sculptures and almost 3,000 paintings. A cold-hearted oppressor of serfs, yes - but the world's most impressive 18th-century super-collector too. Bio: Born on April 21, 1729, in Strettin (now Szczecin), Poland, into the family of Prince Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst, Catherine was christened Sophia Augusta Frederica. On February 9, 1744, aged 15, she came to Russia at the invitation of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna as the bride of the heir to the throne, Peter Feodorovich. They married in St. Petersburg on August 21, 1745, and she was christened into the Orthodox Church as Ekaterina Alexeevna. Industrious, highly intelligent and strong-willed, she quickly mastered the Russian language. A reader of historical and philosophical works, she entered into correspondence with some of the greatest minds in Europe, including Voltaire.

On June 28, 1762, with the support of the Imperial Guard, she overthrew her husband Peter III.

She was crowned Empress of All Russia on September 22, 1762, in the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Her rule was one of the most prosperous periods of the Russian Empire. She undertook a wide range of internal political reforms, waged two successful wars against the Ottoman Empire and occupied vast territories on Russia's southern boundaries, eventually advancing the country's border to the Black Sea. She died on November 6, 1796, and was buried in the Cathedral of the St. Peter and St. Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

Irascible working-class educationalist (and all-round oddball) from Philadelphia who made his fortune in pharmaceuticals. On numerous excursions to Europe, Dr Barnes amassed a stunning collection of French impressionists, including 180 Renoirs, 69 Cézannes, 60 Matisses and numerous works by Rousseau, Degas, Modigliani and Monet. Very few people were allowed to see this collection, however. Walter P Chrysler once wrote for permission to visit Barnes' private gallery and received a 'no' in reply from a fictitious secretary - explaining that the doctor was too busy to see him owing to his attempt on the world record for gold plush swallowing. Bio: Dr. Albert C. Barnes was born and raised in Philadelphia. He received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and with a colleague engaged in pharmaceutical research which resulted in the development of Argyrol. The medication was used throughout the world to prevent blindness in newborn infants, until the introduction of antibiotics. The medication launched his fortune. Deeply involved in the study of philosophy, psychology, and art, Barnes gradually developed his own educational and aesthetic theories, and began to collect art from all periods and multiple cultures. He consolidated his interests in 1922 by forming The Barnes Foundation as an educational not-for-profit institution, and completed the galleries in 1925. His collection was dedicated exclusively to providing material for the Foundation's art educational program, and is today known internationally for its exceptional quality. Barnes authored "The Art in Painting" and coauthored four other major monographs with Violette de Mazia. He died in an automobile accident in 1951.

Niece of Solomon R Guggenheim (her own father Ben went down on the Titanic), Peggy's collection specialised in cubism, Surrealism and American abstract expressionism; among the artists were Braque, Duchamp, Kandinsky, Mondrian, Klee, Pollock, Rothko and Max Ernst, her second husband. Peggy led a wild life in New York and Paris (by her own admission, she slept with more than 1,000 men) but eventually settled in Venice, where her collection is housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal.

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is the most important museum in Italy for European and American art of the first half of the 20th century. It is located in Peggy Guggenheim's former home, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, on the Grand Canal in Venice.

Opened in 1951 by the niece of Solomon R Guggenheim, wealthy American industrialist and art collector, the museum presents Peggy Guggenheim's personal collection of 20th century art, masterpieces form the Gianni Mattioli collection, the Nasher Sculpture Garden, as well as temporary exhibitions.The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is owned and operated by the Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation, which also operates the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin, Guggenheim-Hermitage, Las Vegas and the Guggenheim Museum Las Vegas. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is the most important museum in Italy for European and American art of the first half of the 20th century.

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection displays works originating from four separate sources:

The Permanent Collection with over 300 images and objects includes masterpieces of Cubism, Futurism, Metaphysical painting, European Abstraction, Surrealism, and American Abstract Expressionism. Among the artists represented are Picasso (The Poet, On the Beach), Braque, Duchamp (Sad Young Man on a Train), Léger, Brancusi (Maiastra, Bird in Space), Severini, Balla, Delaunay, Kupka, Picabia (Very Rare Picture on the Earth), Mondrian, Kandinsky (Landscape with Red Spots No.2), Arp, Miró (Seated Woman II), Giacometti (Woman Walking), Klee (Magic Garden), Ernst, Magritte (Empire of Light), Dalì, Pollock (Moon Woman, Alchemy), Rothko, Calder, Moore, and Marini. The Collection also includes African and Oceanic objects. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is defined by the gift, by the listing by the State, by Angelica Rudenstine's catalogue raisonné and by the checklist printed at the back of the Collection handbook.

The Patsy R and Raymond D Nasher Sculpture Garden
The Patsy R and Raymond D Nasher Sculpture Garden of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection presents six works loaned by the Patsy R and Raymond D Nasher Collection located in Dallas, Texas as well as sculptures from Peggy Guggenheim’s collection. This collection includes sculptures by Ernst, Giacometti, Arp, Richier, Merz, Moore, Mirko, Duchamp-Villon, Minguzzi, Burton, Caro, Gilardi, and Takis.

The Gianni Mattioli Collection
Since September 1997, the museum has exhibited twenty-six paintings on long-term loan from the renowned Gianni Mattioli Collection. The collection includes legendary images of Italian Futurism such as Boccioni’s Materia and Dynamism of a Cyclist, Carrà’s Interventionist Demonstration, Russolo’s The Solidity of Fog, and other works by Balla, Severini (Blue Dancer), Sironi, Soffici, Rosai, and Depero. Early paintings by Morandi and a portrait by Modigliani are also in this collection. The US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale is supported by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and is owned by the Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation.

'If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars,' oil baron Getty once opined. In 1987 his trust paid $53.9 million for Van Gogh's Irises, and in his will he endowed the Los Angeles arts centre that bears his name. Getty's son John, the cricket-playing Anglophile, has established a £50 million endowment to the National Gallery in London, meanwhile, which often prevents the loss of important works to ... the Getty Center in LA.

In 1945, J. Paul Getty purchased a site just above Pacific Coast Highway and began to use its "Ranch House" as both a residence and a space for the display of his personal art collection. By 1953, the growth of his collection, then primarily Greek and Roman antiquities, prompted Mr. Getty to add a wing to the Ranch House dedicated to the exhibition of his works of art and to establish the J. Paul Getty Museum. In the late 1960s, Mr. Getty decided to recreate a first-century Roman country house—based on the plans of the ancient Villa dei Papiri just outside of Herculaneum—as a separate museum on the property. The museum opened to the public in 1974 and began to enjoy world renown. This building, now called the Getty Villa, served as the museum's sole location until it closed in the summer of 1997 in preparation for the opening of the new museum at the Getty Center in December 1997.

The Getty Villa is currently undergoing renovation. The Boston architectural firm of Machado & Silvetti Associates, Inc. has created an exciting plan for the Villa. The décor will remain Classical in inspiration, with patterned mosaic and terrazzo floors, coffered ceilings, colorful plaster walls, and wood and bronze details, but added skylights and newly reopened windows around the inner peristyle garden and atrium will add much needed natural light to the galleries. The site will also include a variety of improvements to make visitors' experience richer and more enjoyable.

At the heart of the Villa's new mission and occupying most of the public spaces are works of art from the Antiquities Collection, which now contains more than 50,000 objects. Unlike the installation at the Villa in the past, the collections will be arranged thematically. Some of these themes will relate to religion and myth, while others will focus on aspects of everyday life. The Villa will also have a number of galleries for temporary exhibitions of materials from other institutions and from the collections of the Getty Research Institute, including works from outside the geographic and temporal scope of the museum's collection. As at the Getty Center, a wide spectrum of educational programs will serve visitors, community organizations, and school groups both at the site and out in the community. The broader mission of the Villa and its surrounding buildings and landscape will be the comparative study of ancient art and cultures, both western and non-western, so as to promote a broader understanding of the similarities and differences between the classical world and other ancient societies. A library, seminar rooms, and offices for scholars will support research programs leading to publications and exhibitions.

The Villa will also become home to the first master's degree program in archaeological and ethnographic conservation in the U.S., a partnership between the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA and the Getty, particularly the Getty Conservation Institute. UCLA faculty and Getty staff will serve as instructors and guest lecturers, teaching in classrooms and labs located around a courtyard in direct proximity to the labs used for the conservation of the antiquities collection. The students' training will include study and treatment of objects from the Getty collection and the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History.

Article by: Sue Leeman JOHN Paul Getty II, the reclusive American-born billionaire philanthropist and art lover who became a British citizen late in life, died today, his doctor said. He was 70. Getty, a reformed drug addict who became Britain's leading patron of good causes, died in a hospital where he was being treated for a chest infection. Dr John Goldstone said Getty was admitted to the London Clinic on Monday for treatment of a recurrent chest infection but died last night. "His family would like to extend their thanks to all those who have expressed their sympathy, which is greatly appreciated," Goldstone said in a statement. During more than a quarter-century of living in Britain, the fiercely Anglophile Getty gave more than $US200 million ($327 million) to many causes, including the National Gallery. He once paid to rescue a family of seals caught in a storm, bought a mansion for needy children and gave a grand piano to a concert pianist who didn't own one. Getty was given the honorary title of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1986 for services to charity, but could not be called Sir Paul then because he was not a British citizen. He was invested with the full honours in 1998, a year after changing his citizenship. "When I heard the national anthem played, I felt very proud to be British - it's my national anthem now," Getty said after his investiture at Buckingham Palace. "I love Britain's way of life. I love its people. I love its history and I love its future." In 1985, he gave STG50 million to the National Gallery in London. He also gave STG20 million to the British Film Institute, and millions more in smaller donations, often anonymous, to other charities and causes. In a rare public statement after subsidizing the families of striking miners in 1985, Getty said he was "privileged to be the heir to huge wealth and I regard myself as custodian of that money for the benefit of people who need it more than I do." Born on September 7, 1932, John Paul Getty Junior was the third of five sons of John Paul Getty, nicknamed "Oklahoma Crude," who founded Standard Oil and built a US$6 billion fortune - making him the richest man in the world in his day. After attending the University of San Francisco and doing a brief stint in the army, Getty Junior took charge of Getty Oil enterprises in Rome. But he resigned within six years, telling his father, "It doesn't take anything to be a businessman." He then embarked on a freewheeling lifestyle of drugs and parties, growing his hair and adopting colourful velvet kaftans. In 1967, he divorced his wife of 11 years, Gail, with whom he had had four children. But the hippie life ended in 1971 when Getty's second wife, Bali-born model Talitha Pol, died of an accidental drug overdose in Rome. He moved to Britain in 1972 and, for years, lived alone in a heavily secured mansion on the bank of the River Thames in London's upscale Chelsea neighbourhood, taking solace in heroin and rum. He gave no interviews, issuing only the occasional statement through his lawyers. The bulk of Getty's fortune came from a family trust after the sale of Getty Oil to Texaco in 1984; his father, from whom he was estranged, left him only a nominal sum in his will. The younger Getty's fortune had been put as high as $US2 billion, but he said much of it was in family trusts that he didn't control. In 1971, Getty's teenage son from his first marriage, John Paul III, was abducted in Italy and held for five months. It was only after the kidnappers cut off part of his ear and sent it to the family that the boy's grandfather agreed to help pay a reported ransom of US$3.4 million. A year later, the youngster had a drug-induced stroke that left him a paraplegic and practically blind. In 1994, the staunchly Catholic Getty married Victoria Holdsworth, his longtime British girlfriend, who is credited with his rehabilitation and gradual emergence into public life. "I owe everything - repeat everything - to Victoria," he told an interviewer shortly after his marriage. "She has been my inspiration, you could say."

Owns the biggest and most important private art collection in the world, consisting of 6,500 works. Includes the world's most significant archive of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci (on show at the Queen's Gallery from May 8th) and paintings by Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Holbein and Bruegel.

Particularly admired by Prince Andrew who likes to peruse the royal collection in the dead of night and then cherry-pick pictures for his private apartment. 'I have a few on my walls and on tables around the place,' he has concluded.


Renovation in Progress	Watercolor rendering: Machado & Silvetti Associates


	Lansdowne Herakles

	Scholar at Work