Wilhelm Martin
Dutch art historian and museum director (1876-1954)
Wilhelm Martin (20 June 1876 – 10 March 1954) was a German-Dutch art historian.
Wilhelm Martin was born in 1876 in Quakenbrück, Germany as the son of Karl Martin, a geologist, and Ana Fittica. When his father became a professor at the University of Leiden in 1877, the family moved to the Netherlands. Wilhelm's two younger brothers, Herman Martin (1881–1968, director of the Fries Museum) and Hans Martin (1886–1964, a writer) were both born in the Netherlands.
Wilhelm Martin successfully studied Arts at the University of Leiden between 1894 and 1899, and became a Ph.D. in 1901 with his study Het leven en de werken van Gerrit Dou beschouwd in verband met het schildersleven van zijn tijd, the first purely art historical doctorate in the Netherlands.
Also in 1901, Martin became vice-director of the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague under Abraham Bredius. Martin specialized in Dutch Golden Age painting, i.e. 17th-century Dutch painting. In 1904 he started giving private lessons at the University of Leiden.
On 9 August 1906, he married Maria Cornelia Visser.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Wilhelm Martin” is dutch art historian and museum director (1876-1954). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Wilhelm, Martin and Dutch, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “dutch art historian and museum director (1876-1954)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18222898. VIAF identifies the subject as 71025034. The Library of Congress control number is no99039310. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1876, 1954, 1877 and 1881.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Wilhelm Martin”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Wilhelm Martin primary sources, Wilhelm Martin archive and Wilhelm research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Wilhelm Martin”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Wilhelm Martin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.