Themes
Daan Scheurleer
In 1915, Daan Scheurleer, partner in the eponymous family bank of the Hague, commissioned Reinier Bakels to paint a full-length portrait of himself, seated in his library, which reflected his broad range of cultural interests.
Although Scheurleer & Zoonen has long since disappeared, the heritage the family has left the Hague is unique. One of the most well-known partners in the bank was Daniël François (Daan) Scheurleer (1855-1927). At an early age, Daan Scheurleer displayed a keen interest in cultural as well as business affairs. Dutch maritime history was one of his main hobbies. He owned a large collection of books on the subject and wrote several publications on maritime history. He takes the credit for organising the first exhibition in the Netherlands on Dutch maritime history. This led in 1901 to the foundation of the Dutch maritime association, "Vereeniging Het Nederlandsche Zeewezen". He also played a part in founding the predecessor of the Dutch Maritime Museum in Amsterdam.
Daan Scheurleer started his training in 1872 at the Handels-Lehranstalt in Dresden (Germany) where he graduated in March 1874 and subsequently worked for a year at the Dresdner Bank. It was while in Dresden - then a major cultural centre with names like Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner - that his passion for music developed. Here he wrote his first works on Berlioz, Liszt and Wagner. He was a indefatigable collector of musical scores and instruments; throughout his life he amassed some 1,100 different instruments from all over the world, as well as a huge collection of prints, engravings and paintings depicting music being made.
His various musicological activities led in 1910 to an honorary doctorate from the University of Leiden. Dr Scheurleer's musical collection was on permanent display in the music museum in Scheurleer's home on Laan van Meerdervoort, the Hague. Here he received his friends and acquaintances, musicians and musicologists as well as other interested individuals. But this was no publicly accessible museum; the collection was privately owned. This fact proved to be almost the end of this remarkable collection when, in 1932 it was in danger of being sold off as part of the family's bankrupt estate. Happily, however, most of the items were acquired for the Hague Gemeente Museum (Municipal Museum), where they now form the core of the music department's instrument collection. Scheurleer's maritime prints collection was purchased by the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.
Daan Scheurleer was a typically straitlaced Hollander, quick-witted and never one to mince words. This is amply demonstrated in the inscription above the entrance to the safe: "Even a donkey loaded with gold can get through this narrow gate." From eight-thirty every morning Scheurleer worked for the bank; he stopped punctually at three. From that moment, the rest of the day was reserved for his hobbies. He loathed modern inventions; he never rode in cars and to allow a barber to cut his hair with electric scissors was completely out of the question.
Despite his cultural aspirations, Daan Scheurleer had no option other than a banking career. He nevertheless always took banking business very seriously. At the turn of the century, he was considered the foremost banker in the Hague. By 1900 the number of bankers and commissioners in the Hague was beginning to rise enormously. While this raised competition, it also required some form of cooperation in order to strengthen the collective position with regard to commission negotiations on the Amsterdam and Rotterdam stock exchanges. Therefore, in 1903, the Bond voor de Geld- en Effectenhandel in de Provincie (Association for Money and Stock Trade in the Provinces; in financial circles the rest of the country, excluding Amsterdam and Rotterdam, was long known as the Provinces) was founded and based in the Hague. The Hague money and stock exchange was founded in 1905 and located on Nobelstraat. Daan Scheurleer played a prominent role in both foundations.
Daan Scheurleer was spared the sad failure of his bank in 1932. The healthy parts of the bank were taken over by Incasso-Bank. He died five years before, in 1927, at the age of 72. Scheurleer & Zoonen remained a genuinely Hague institution to the last and will always be remembered as such.