Felix Koenigs Explained

Birth Date:18 May 1846
Birth Place:Cologne, Germany
Death Place:Paris, France
Burial Place:Melaten cemetery, Cologne, Germany
Occupation:Banker, art collector

Felix Koenigs (18 May 1846 – 24 September 1900) was a German banker and art collector.

Early life

Koenigs was born on 18 May 1846 in Cologne to Franz Wilhelm Koenigs (1819–1882), was a merchant and textile manufacturer. His older brother,, and his younger brother was chemist .[1] His nephew, Franz Koenigs, was also a banker and art collector.

Career

In 1866, he joined the banking firm of Delbrück, Leo & Co., founded by Adelbert Delbrück, and became a full partner in 1878.

In the 1890s, he was one of the founders and financiers of the Grunewald "villa colony" in Berlin, and owned several properties there. The and the there are named after him.

Several famous artists were his close friends, including Adolf Brütt, Max Klinger, Wilhelm Leibl and Hans Olde. The sculptor, Otto Lessing, was a neighbor of his, and they once travelled together to Venice, on an art buying expedition.

He went to visit the Exposition Universelle with Brütt and Klinger, but suddenly became ill and died there. Brütt helped convey his estate to the National Gallery.[2] The sculptures by Auguste Rodin, and the paintings by Christian Landenberger and Giovanni Segantini, are in the "Foundation of Modernism" collection at the Gallery.

His family grave, designed by Ludwig Brunow, is in the Melaten cemetery in Cologne.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2022-04-27 . Felix Koenigs . 2024-07-31 . geni_family_tree . en-US.
  2. Ausstellung der Sammlung Felix Koenigs: März - April 1901, Kgl. Museen zu Berlin, National-Galerie, Ed. by Hugo von Tschudi