Michotte, Edmond (1831 – 1914)

Born in Tirlemont in Belgium, Edmond Michotte was sent to Paris to take classes at the Louis le Grand School. The Revolution in 1848 brought him back to the homeland. Determined to dedicate himself to music, he cut short his studies at ULB and spent long periods in Paris. He moved back to Brussels in 1870, where he began his Japanese collection. However, it was in the French capital, where he was in contact with the first great lovers of Japanese art of the second half of the 19th century, that he made the majority of his acquisitions. Today, his collection, composed of 300 to 400 pieces collected up until 1889, is kept at the Royal Museums of Art and History Museums in Brussels.