Cornelis Sebille Roos

Cornelis Sebille Roos was born in Amsterdam. He was a Dutch art dealer, publisher and inspector of the Nationale Konst-Gallery in Huis ten Bosch. Roos was one of the founders of Felix Meritius “Happy through merit,” a society supporting the liberal arts.

After his parents died at an early age, Roos was raised by an uncle. In 1784 he married Catharina Johannes Esser (1759-1801); they had two daughters. After her death, Roos married Geertruijd Ida van Genderen (1768-1846) in 1801. They had two sons and a daughter.

Roos lived in a grand mansion at no. 29 Kloveniersburgwal, from where he conducted his art dealing business. In 1798 he opened a gallery where he exhibited and sold paintings, sculptures and coin medals, and published prints. In 1811 Roos moved to Huis met de Hoofden, a canal house at Keizersgracht 123, and continued to work from his home. He sold works belonging to many famous art collectors in Amsterdam.

In 1799, Roos accepted an appointment as Inspector of the National Konst-Gallery in Huis ten Bosch, a national museum dedicated to Dutch art and history – the predecessor of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Additionally, as caretaker of the collection, he was in charge of acquiring works for the museum. After Louis Napoleon (1778-1846) became King of Holland, Roos moved the collection first to the former Willem V Gallery in The Hague and in 1808 to Louis Napoleon’s residence at Paleis op de Dam in Amsterdam (Royal Palace of Amsterdam). After the collection moved to Amsterdam, Roos resigned from his position and returned to selling art.

In 1810 Roos sold at auction the collection of Pieter baron de Smeth (1753-1809). Caspar Netscher’s Portrait de famille (Schloss German no. 161/ French no. 188) was part of that collection, which Adolphe Schloss acquired before his death in 1910. At an anonymous sale in 1812 Roos bought La dormeuse by Gabriel Metsu (Schloss German no. 132/ French no. 156) for another collector. In 1836 his son, Cornelis François Roos, purchased Jeunes artistes by Caspar Netscher (Schloss German no. 160/ French no. 187) from the sale of Abraham Jacob Saportas (1776-1836).

Link: [about:blank https://rkd.nl/nl/explore/artists/record?query=cornelis+sebille+roos&start=0] Accessed 4 June 2021.