Caspar Reuvens - Personal Life and Education

Personal Life and Education

In 1798, when Reuvens was only five years old, he lost his mother. His father was a prominent jurist, had been minister of justice for a short while, and filled various other important offices. Reuvens' father was transferred to Paris after the conquest by Napoleon, so the young Reuvens lived there for some years. In 1813 Reuvens graduated from the University of Paris with a degree in law. During the reign of Napoleon, Paris received art from all the conquered nations. It has been argued that this experience in Paris would prove an inspiration for Reuvens' later efforts to establish a Dutch national museum for archaeology.

In 1814 Reuvens and his father returned to the Netherlands where they both found work as lawyers. Reuvens continued his childhood and teenage interest in the ancient world by studying and writing commentaries on Greek and Latin literature. These were published in 1815 under the title Collectanea litteraria.

In 1816 Reuvens became a professor in Harderwijk, and in 1818 at Leiden University (see below). Around this time Reuvens' father was killed in Brussel as a key witness in some sort of scandal. The details of the murder case remain unsolved.

In 1822 Reuvens got married, and three children would follow within the decade. Reuvens died in 1835, aged only 42, at what seems to have been a stroke. He is buried in Leiden.