Lawyer and collector César Snoeck (1832-1898) from Ronse assembled a collection of some 2.000 musical instruments. After his death his collection got dispersed. In 1899, only the collection of instruments from the Netherlands was still for sale, altogether 437 instruments.
The first curator of the MIM, Victor-Charles Mahillon, was less interested in the previous lots because they contained too many instruments that were very similar to pieces from his own collection. However, he hoped that the instruments from our regions would not leave for abroad, as the museum owned at most a hundred of...
Lawyer and collector César Snoeck (1832-1898) from Ronse assembled a collection of some 2.000 musical instruments. After his death his collection got dispersed. In 1899, only the collection of instruments from the Netherlands was still for sale, altogether 437 instruments.
The first curator of the MIM, Victor-Charles Mahillon, was less interested in the previous lots because they contained too many instruments that were very similar to pieces from his own collection. However, he hoped that the instruments from our regions would not leave for abroad, as the museum owned at most a hundred of them at the time. He approached Louis Cavens (1850-1940), a benefactor who was very important to the major Belgian scientific institutions.
Cavens bought the remaining instruments of the Snoeck collection and donated them to the MIM. The string instruments form the most interesting part of this collection, which excels in variety and quality.
