Baron Joseph Van der Elst and his fiancee Allison Campbell-Roebling. October 26, 1926. New York, Bettmann Archive. Portrait of a man
Joseph (Jo) Julien Marie Ignace Baron van der Elst (Ixelles, September 9, 1896 - Oostkerke, February 20, 1971) was a Belgian diplomat, art collector and author. biography
Van der Elst was a member of the Van der Elst family and a son of Leon Baron van der Elst (1856-1933) and JVR Marie van Vessem (1866-1960), member of the Van Vessem family. He was in diplomatic service of the Kingdom of Belgium and worked in Washington, Vienna, San Francisco, Lisbon and Rome. He married the American Allison Campbell-Roebling (1907-2000) with whom he had five children.
Van der Elst was an art collector. His collection consisted mainly of Flemish Primitives, including the portrait of a man of Hans Memling and the work of Jheronimus Bosch, the Master of the Legend of Saint Lucia, the Master of the Legend of Saint Catharina, the Tiburtine Sibylle Master and the Master of Frankfurt. After his death, the collection went to his youngest son, François van der Elst in Geneva. In 2001, part of the Van der Elst collection was auctioned at Sotheby's auction house in London and in 2002 also at Sotheby's in New York.
Van der Elst was de auteur van The Flemish Masters en The last flowering of the Middle Ages (1944).
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