Education
He was highly active in the cultural field – he is widely regarded as the father of historic preservation in the Netherlands, played a notable part in keeping Vermeer"s Girl with a Pearl Earring in the Netherlands and chose the architect Pierre Cuypers (a fellow Catholic and fellow Limburger) to design the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. He studied law in Leiden and is still known there for his drawings in the old tower of the Academy building (Academiegebouw).
