Willibald Imhoff (born 16 November 1519 in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

, Germany, died 25 January 1580) was an

art collector A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

of the famous Nuremberg

Imhoff family The Imhoff, Imhof or Im Hof family is a noble patrician family that belonged to the wealthy trading dynasties and ruling oligarchy in the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg during its ''Golden Age'' in the Renaissance. The ''Imhoff Trading Company'' w ...

, and the grandson of

Willibald Pirckheimer Willibald Pirckheimer (5 December 1470 – 22 December 1530) was a German Renaissance lawyer, author and Renaissance humanist, a wealthy and prominent figure in Nuremberg in the 16th century, imperial counsellor and a member of the governing City ...

. He was a wealthy partner in the Imhoff trading company. In his youth, Imhoff stayed in his family's trading offices in Lyon and Antwerp to learn wholesale and long-distance trade. In 1540-42 he traveled to France and then in 1544 to Spain. In 1545 he married Anna Harsdörffer (1528-1601), daughter of Wolff Harsdörffer and Ehrentraud

Welser Welser was a Germans, German banking and merchant family, originally a patrician (post-Roman Europe), patrician family based in Augsburg and Nuremberg, that rose to great prominence in international high finance in the 16th century as bankers t ...

. Even after that he regularly made trips to Lyon and Zaragoza as a partner of the trading company. Since Willibald Pirckheimer died in 1530 without descendants in the male line, his library and a large part of his art possession passed to Willibald Imhoff. The art collection was successively expanded by Imhoff as the ''Imhoff art cabinet'' and included among other works by his grandfather's close friend

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

(including his

Portrait of Johann Kleberger ''Portrait of Johann Kleberger'' is a 1526 oil on limewood panel painting by Albrecht Dürer, signed and dated by the artist and now in Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Costantino Porcu (eds), ''Dürer'', Rizzoli, Milan, 2004 The work was pro ...

) works by Holbein, Cranach, Titian and Paris Bordone. He bought a large number of ancient and contemporary statues and busts made of marble or clay, a rich copperplate collection, numerous drawings by famous masters, faience, Venetian glasses, and expanded the Pirckheimer library. After the death of Andreas Dürer (Albrecht's brother) Imhoff was able to acquire numerous works by Albrecht Dürer. Imhoff also collected coins and he cataloged the coin collection of Duke

Albert V of Bavaria Albert V (German: ''Albrecht V.'') (29 February 1528 – 24 October 1579) was Duke of Bavaria from 1550 until his death. He was born in Munich to William IV and Maria Jacobäa of Baden. Early life Albert was educated at Ingolstadt by Catholic ...

. Schardt Büste Willibald Imhoff.jpg, Bust of Willibald Imhoff, by

Johan Gregor van der Schardt Johan (or Jan) Gregor van der Schardt (Nijmegen, Netherlands, c. 1530/31 – Denmark, after 1581) was a sculptor from the Northern Renaissance. Life He toured Italy in the 1560s and among others worked in Bologna. From 1569 to 1576 he was in ...

, 1570 1580 Schardt Anna Imhoff Bodemuseum anagoria.JPG, Bust of Anna Imhoff

References

1519 births 1580 deaths German art collectors {{Germany-bio-stub