Gert-Rudolf Flick

Gert-Rudolf "Muck" Flick (born 29 May 1943) is a German art historian and collector, a member of the Flick family of industrialists whose wealth originated with Flick's grandfather, Friedrich Flick, who worked with the Nazis during the Second World War. He is the former publisher of ''Apollo'' magazine and is a visiting professor in the history of art at the University of Buckingham. He has written two well-received works on the history of art, ''Missing Masterpieces'' (2003) and ''Masters and Pupils'' (2008).

Early life and family

Gert-Rudolf Flick was born on 29 May 1943 in France to Otto-Ernst Flick and his wife Barbara Raabe. His grandfather was Friedrich Flick, a German industrialist convicted after the Second World War of using slave labour in his factories."Fund-raising and the Holocaust: The Case of Dr Gert-Rudolf Flick's Contribution to Oxford University"
by Michael Pinto-Duschinsky in Alan Montefiore & David Vines (Eds.) (2005). ''Integrity in the Public and Private Domains''. Routledge. p. 262. .

He married and divorced first Princess Johanna von Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein. Secondly, he married and divorced Princess Donatella Missikoff of Ossetia with whom he had one son Sebastian (1989). Thirdly, he married Corinne Müller-Vivil, a confectionary heiress, with whom he has one daughter.Daimler-Benz heir wins planning row over 'tasteless' basement plans.
Andrew Hough, ''The Telegraph'', 6 February 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2019.

Career

Flick has a PhD in law from the University of Munich. He joined the Flick firm in 1971 but with his younger siblings, Friedrich Christian Flick ("Mick") and Dagmar Flick, negotiated a sale of their interests in the firm that was realised in 1975 for a shared 405m marks and an additional negotiated payment of 225m marks later. Flick later made a significant gain on the sale of shares following a change in ownership of the Flick group.

In the 1990s, Flick was the publisher of ''Apollo'' magazine. He has written two major works on the history of art, a study of ''Missing Masterpieces'' (2003), and ''Masters and Pupils'' (2008) which postulated an apostolic succession of training in European art history. As of 2019, he is a visiting professor in the history of art at the University of Buckingham.Professor Gert-Rudolf Flick.
University of Buckingham. Retrieved 11 February 2019.

University of Oxford

In 1992, Flick was appointed to the Court of Benefactors of the University of Oxford in recognition of donations he had made to the Europaeum project. A proposed Flick professorship in European thought at the university proved controversial due to concerns that its funding might be tainted by Flick's inheritance from his grandfather who had created his business empire partly during the Nazi period. In March 1996, Flick wrote to ''The Daily Telegraph'' to repudiate his grandfather's war-time activities. The funding of around £350,000 was withdrawn at Flick's request later that year.

Park House

Flick was resident with his wife Corinne at Park House, Kensington, in central London which he is reported as having purchased in 1986. The house was home to his collection of early silver and Italian old master paintings and '' vedutà'' including a Canaletto scene of fireworks over Venice. In 2013 he won planning permission to expand the house by creating new rooms in the basement despite opposition from neighbours. The excavation was carried out but the full plans were unrealised. The house was sold to the businessman Richard Caring for £40m in 2018."Digging in: Ivy tycoon Richard Caring plans double basement at 'bargain' £40m Kensington mansion"
Jonathan Prynn, ''Homes and Property'', 18 December 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2019.

Selected publications

* ''View Paintings of a European Collector''. Westerham Press, 1996.
* ''Missing Masterpieces: Lost Works of Art 1450-1900''. British Art Journal in association with Merrell, London, 2003.
* ''Masters & Pupils: The Artistic Succession from Perugino to Manet, 1480-1880''. Hogarth Arts, London, 2008.

See also

* Flick family

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flick, Gert-Rudolf
Living people
1943 births
Academics of the University of Buckingham
German publishers (people)
German art historians
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni
Flick family
German art collectors
20th-century art collectors
21st-century art collectors