Description
The Cornelius Ver Heyden de Lancey collection comprises manuscript correspondence and documents by over 75 painters, sculptors,
architects, and printmakers, predominantly from 17th- and 18th-century France.
Background
Dutch-born British baron Cornelius Ver Heyden de Lancey (1889-1984) was a medical doctor, dentist, and barrister, as well
as an art historian and collector of French historical books, letters, and manuscripts. De Lancey studied medicine and dentistry
at the University of Leiden, earned his dental degree in the United States, and practiced dentistry in London and Italy, where
he developed his research interests in art history and the arts. In 1970, De Lancey and his wife, Josephine de la Hanty, founded
the De Lancey and De La Hanty Foundation, an organization dedicated to the study of medical law that also sponsors arts initiatives
in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and France. De Lancey died on Jersey in the Channel Islands in 1984.