On November 18, Christie’s Amsterdam is offering a collection consigned by the heirs of an anonymous Dutch arts patron who had an affinity for 19th-century Dutch Romantic painting. The 455 works— by 200 Dutch artists, such as Cornelis Springer and Andreas Schelfhout, and valued at a collective €2.7 million ($3.9 million)—are hitting the block for the first time, having been kept hidden in a small canal house. Their owner began putting the collection together when he was in his 20s, taking out discreet newspaper ads presenting himself as an “international collector looking for quality paintings.” Over the next four decades, he bought pictures in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland, acquiring his last in 1996. Yet he never allowed a dealer or curator to see his trove, which includes still lifes, portraits and scenes. In the last category is Figures on the Ice in a Wooded Landscape (est. €200–300,000; $288– 432,000), an 1846 oil by Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, who counted the Dutch king Willem II as a patron.

"Secret Stash" originally appeared in the November 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's November 2008 Table of Contents.