Johann August Otto Gehler (1762–1822), who worked in Leipzig as a councillor, lawyer and town master mason, was a passionate art collector. He concentrated on works on paper, especially drawings from the late 15th century up to his own times. As an art lover and aspiring member of the educated middle class, he took drawing lessons from Adam Friedrich Oeser (1717–1799) and Veit Hanns Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1764–1841).
Gehler passed on his passion for the fine arts to his daughter Emilie (1793–1857), who married Heinrich Dörrien (1786–1858). In 1859, after the death of his daughter and his son-in-law, his extensive collection became the property of the museum as a legacy of the Dörrien family. Thus, the initiator of this important collection was forgotten for a long time.
The first selection of works from his collection, which was on display in 2024, contained over 20 drawings by German, Dutch, and Italian artists from the 15th and 16th centuries. Now 20 drawings from the 17th and 18th centuries are being shown. Among the works on display are a fantastic architectural sketch by the Italian graphic artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) as well as painting studies by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665).
