The story of the Bernheimer dynasty of art dealers comes to the fore this month as Sotheby’s in London prepares a two-day auction (24-25 November) of 500 pieces of art and antiques from the family’s collection.
Konrad’s great-grandfather, Lehmann Bernheimer (1841-1918), began trading from a tiny market stall in Munich in the mid-19th century and quickly became the owner of the biggest antiques emporium in the world. The six-storey, purpose-built “Bernheimer Palais” on Munich’s Lenbachplatz was like a grander version of London’s Harrods. Clients included King Ludwig II of Bavaria.
In 1938, the next generations of Bernheimers were taken to the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau in Germany. They were only able to negotiate their release by buying an overpriced coffee plantation in Venezuela that belonged to relatives of Hermann Goering, a Nazi officer and once also a Bernheimer client.
After the war, Lehmann’s son Otto returned to Germany to rebuild the business. In 1977, Konrad, then only 26, took over from his grandfather, focusing on a new area—Old Master paintings, then a flourishing market.
The family’s collection, including stock from the Palais, has been housed in Burg Marquartstein, an 11th-century castle in Bavaria that is also up for sale. The items of furniture, painting, sculpture, porcelain and wine include a small, late painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder (est £800,000-£1.2m) and a pair of bronze lions, known as the Bernheimer Lions (around 1900-20), that once flanked the doors of the Munich Palais.
