by Miranda G. McLeod
Staff Writer
As soon as you walk into Maarten van de Guchte’s office, it’s overwhelming to see the plethora of interesting eye-candy. His workspace isn’t just his office, it’s a whole museum. Van de Guchte is director of the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens and has been for the last six years. He was born in Holland and spent two years in Italy and seven years in Peru. He studied art history at the University of Amsterdam and received his Ph.D. in pre-Columbian art and archeology at the University of Illinois. Before coming to Jacksonville he was the director of the University Art Museum at the University of Illinois. His office has four paintings hanging on the walls. The themes are obvious, he said. He has paintings of the Rock of Gibraltar with the sea and sailboats as well as paintings dominated by females. “I love to sail and I love the women,” adding quickly, “I’m a happily married man.” He has been married to his wife Margaret for 15 years. They have three children: Adriana, 14, Ryerson, 12, and Nicholas, 10. The children really don’t have an interest in following in their father’s footsteps yet, but van de Guchte says, that may change. Van de Guchte is pictured here with a bust of Bernini.