BOISSEREE, SULPIZ, a celebrated archaeologist, was• b. at Cologne in 1783. A visit which he and his brother Melchior (born 1786), along with their friend Joh. Bapt. Ber tram, paid to Paris in 1803, inspired the trio with the idea of collecting and preserving the scattered specimens Of early Germrin art. The realization of this, idea became the single object of their lives. After many years of patient and unwearied research, they gathered together 200 pictures, which received the name of "the Boissercan collection." '1'lle king of 11"firtemberg presented the brothers with a spacious edifice iu Stutt gart, the pictures were transferred thither, and skillfully arranged, according to their age and importance. This brought to light ,a very important historical fact, previously unknown—viz., that in the 14th c. Germany possessed a school of art based on Byzan tine traditions. Great light was also thrown upon many of the Flemish masters, and especially on the influence exerted by Jan Van Eyck. The collection was divided into three sections corresponding to three historical period—the first comprising the works of the Cologne school in the 14th c.; the second, those of Van Eyck and his disciples in the
15th; and the third, those of the German painters at the close of the 15th and begin ning of the 16th centuries. In 1827, the collection was sold to the king of Bavaria; and in 1836 was transferred to the picture-gallery • (pittakot7A) in Munich, whither the brothers followed it. Sulpiz died in 1841, and Melchior in 1851. The former has left several interesting and valuable works; such as Monuments of Architecture on the Lower Rhine, from, the 7th to the 1311s c. (Munich, 1830-331; Concerning the Maple of the Holy Grail,1834; Collection of Oki Low and High German Paintings, with Notices of the Early Painters, by Sulpiz and Melchior B. and Jidt. Bapt. Bertram, lithographed by .1.V. Strir ner (182249); and a very magnificent work, entitled Views, Plans, Sections, and Details of the Cathedral of Cologne, with Restorations after the Original Plan, accompanied by Researches on the Architecture of Ancient Cathedrals, etc. (1823-32).