Gustav(e) Schwabe was born on 10 October 1813 in Hamburg, Germany.  When his father Philipp Benjamin left the Jewish community and joined the Lutheran church in 1819 Gustav was christened Gustav Christian.  In June 1842 he married Helen Dugdale, the daughter of John Dugdale of Liverpool.

Gustav died on 10 January 1897 at his home No. 19 Kensington Palace Gardens, London and he was buried at Henley on Thames on 18 January.  His wife Helen died at Kensington Palace Gardens on 26 October 1898.  They had no children. 

Note that in 1842 GCS went into partnership with Adam Sykes and Benjamin Rutter - this Adam Sykes was related to the Sykes who married Stephan Schwabe. How exactly has to be determined. For a very brief summary of the Sykes Schwabe Company click here. An article appeared in the Art Journal of 1886 summarizing Gustav's collection and can be downloaded here in PDF. A page on GCS's house No 19 Kensington Palace Gardens can be viewed here.

"In 1871 Yewden Manor (above) had been rented from W. H. Smith by an interesting character named Gustav Schwabe, who continued to live there until his death in 1897.  He was born in Hamburg in 1813 and was a prominent patron of the arts in his day, eventually leaving his collection of pictures to his native city [For which bequest he was made an honorary citizen in 1886.  This was the first time Hamburg had made the honor since Otto von Bismarck and General Helmut von Moltke in 1871.  Schwabe was followed by Johannes Brahms in 1889, by General von Waldersee (who commanded the German troops sent to put down the Boxer Rebellion) in 1901, and by General von Hindenburg in 1917.]. He gathered about him at Yewden a number of artists known as the "St. John’s Wood Clique", many of them Royal Academicians. (They included G. D. Leslie, P. H. Calderon, W. F. Calderon, C. B. Stoney, J. E. Hodgson, H. T. Wells and W. F. Yeames). Schwabe, although only a tenant, not only added the south wing and a portion of the centre (indicated by the lower line of the roof) to the Manor House, but also built a number of flint and brick cottages in the village. After Schwabe's death in 1897, a there was a succession of tenants which brings us up to 1953.”  Below 'Friends at Yewden' by C.T. Wells shows a group of artists seated around G.C. SChwabe who wears a hat, holds a newspaper, and is looking over his shoulder at the artists P. Calderon, R.A. who is standing and leaning forward. The figure in the boat holding the pole is G.D. Leslie, R.A.; next to him is G.D. Storey, R.A.; and standing together are J.E. Hodgson, R.A. and W.F. Yeames, R.A. The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1882.