Sir Maximillian Michaelis, KCMG (11 May 1852 – 26 January 1932) was a South African financier, mining magnate, benefactor and patron of the arts.

Unlike the other Randlords, he was not given to lavish entertaining and spending, avoided the press, did not have an opulent London mansion and despite desiring a baronetcy, was not socially ambitious.

With the outbreak of World War I and the anti-German hysteria that gripped England, Michaelis acted on a suggestion by General Smuts that he return to South Africa.

Also, a lot of the works were regarded as being of indifferent quality (Portrait of a Woman by Frans Hals being the cynosure of the collection) and there was at least one painting of questionable attribution.

In June 1920 at the urging of Lady Phillips, Michaelis endowed the chair of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town and in return was rewarded with an honorary LL.D.

Before his death in 1996, his son Cecil Michaelis, the artist, resenting government expropriation of the estate, donated Montebello to the University of Cape Town on condition the estate was used to promote design – this is now known as the Montebello Design Centre and the old residence as Michaelis House, the junior boarding house of the South African College Schools.