Joachim Heinrich Wilhelm Wagener

His collection formed the initial nucleus of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

[1] Wagener's collection started in 1815 when he acquired Karl Friedrich Schinkel's "Gothic Church on a Cliff by the Sea".

[2] Wagener allowed the public to view his collection and commissioned the writing of catalogues.

[1] In his 1859 will, Wagener left a gift to the Prussian Crown of his art collection on the condition that it form the basis for the creation of a national gallery.

[1] Accordingly, when he died in 1861, 262 works were bequeathed to the Crown,[2] at that time the largest collection of contemporary painting in the world.