Meet the Willets

Abraham Willet (1825-1888) and his wife Louisa Willet-Holthuysen (1824-1895) were the last official residents of this impressive building on the Herengracht, which is now home to the Museum Willet-Holthuysen.

The Willet collection

The Willets were well-to-do Amsterdam residents and this is reflected in the awe-inspiring art collection they built up over the years. Abraham Willet was renowned as being up for a good time and had several contacts throughout the cultural scene, helping to make his collection all the more striking.

No ordinary collector

The exhibits in the museum are of an extremely high quality and richly varied - noteworthy as nineteenth-century collectors usually tended not to venture beyond sketches, prints and paintings. The Willet collection also includes ceramics, glass exhibits and furniture.