Treasure at a Bargain

One of the richest hoards of Western art still in private hands is the collection amassed by Dutch Businessman (coal) Daniel George van Beuningen. In the years of avid collecting before his death three years ago. the man all Rotterdam knew as "D.G." gathered together so many works that he was forced to hang Rembrandt drawings inside cupboard doors. Other artists in the collection included Rubens, Duerer. Michelangelo, Van Ruysdael. Goya. Titian, Van Gogh and Rodin; among the best works were Jan van Eyck's The Three Marias, Bruegel's Tower of Babel. Experts put the value at more than $25 million.

Last week the destination of D.G.'s collection, long the most tempting prize for art dealers the world over, was settled. For a mere $4,737,000, Rotterdam's municipal government bought the whole collection from the Van Beuningen heirs, will house it in the city's Boymans Museum, where old D.G., who called it. "my museum," kept his largest canvases. In return for the bargain price, the Van Beuningen heirs set a few conditions: the collection must not be resold, it must be on permanent view, it must be clearly labeled as coming from D.G.

Unmentioned in the agreement was the fate of Van Beuningen's most sensational buy, a Vermeer Last Supper that Belgian Art Expert Paul Coremans in 1947 identified as having been painted by Art Forger Hans van Meegeren (TIME, July 30, 1945 et seq.). The master faker's masterpiece is currently stored in the basement of the museum that Rotterdamers will henceforth know as the Boymans-Van Beuningen Museum.

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