Annewies van Winter

Due to the business success of her father and grandfather, the van Winter family was well off financially, and so Annewies grew up amidst wealth.

Her family was also in possession of a substantial collection (amounting to over 180 works)[1] of 17th century Dutch and Flemish art, some of which was by masters such as Rembrandt and Johannes Vermeer.

Just before her father died in 1807, he stipulated in his will that the van Winter's art collection should not be broken up until all three of his children were either married or 25 years in age.

Her husband Willem died two years later in 1847, leaving Annewies as the sole heir to his estate.

This in turn helped to spur the effort to create an organization to preserve dutch art, later known as the Rembrandt Association.