Johann Friedrich Städel

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Johann Friedrich Städel (1728–1816) was a German banker and art lover. He began collecting paintings and drawings in 1770. By his death the collection had about 500 paintings—mostly Flemish, Dutch and German works from the 17th and 18th centuries—and more than 4,000 drawings. The famous writer Goethe visited the collection several times.

Städel never married and had no children. After his parents died in 1777–78, he ran their spice business briefly before switching to banking, where he became very successful and doubled his wealth. He lived in his parents’ house in Frankfurt until 1777, then moved to his own home.

Since 1793 he planned to create an art institute. In 1811 he asked Grand Duke Karl Theodor von Dalberg for permission to found it. In his will, he laid out that both a public art collection, the Städel Kunstinstitut, and an art school, the Städelschule, should bear his name. He also allowed selling some paintings and said the institute should seek the best possible collection. When he died in 1816, all his artworks were transferred to the new collection.