Marie Meyer (1834 - 1915)

Marie Meyer née Marie Lousie Toberentz was born in 1834 in Hamburg. She was married to the industrial tycoon and marine biologist, Heinrich Adolf Meyer. Their Kiel residence served as the meeting point for artists and musicians, such as Theodor Fontane, Clara Schuhmann and Johannes Brahms. After her husband’s death, Meyer moved to Freiburg im Breisgau in 1889. It was here in 1892 that she met and became the patron of Ernst Grosse, a scholar and East Asia specialist. She was already in possession of a valuable art collection before their meeting and, with Grosse’s help, particularly by way of his cordial relationship with the Japanese art dealer, Tadamasa Hayashi, expanded it into a significant collection of East Asian art. Her house in Freiburg was also a meeting place for important various luminaries, such as Arnold Böcklin, Otto Kümmel and Wilhelm von Bode. Marie Meyer died in 1915 in Munich whilst on a visit there. The Berlin Museums were the beneficiaries of her estate. In 1903, Marie Meyer donated a collection of valuable Japanese carvings from the 18th and 19th centuries to the Freiburg museums, where Grosse was also working at the time.