Rudolph J. Heinemann

Rudolph J. Heinemann, also known as Rudolf J. Heinemann, (1901 – February 7, 1975) was a German-born American art dealer and collector of Old Masters. He was an advisor to Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, who established a museum in Lugano, Switzerland with his help. Heinemann and his wife donated works of art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art and the Morgan Library & Museum.

Heinemann was born in 1901 in Germany. His father and grandfather were art dealers. He was educated in Munich, Berlin and Florence.

Heinemann began his career as an assistant at the Galerie Heinemann in Munich, owned by his father. After his father's death in 1931, he became the owner of the gallery. He emigrated to the United States in 1935, he established his own art gallery in New York City. His clients included institutions like the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, to whom he sold Time Unveiling Truth by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo in 1961.

Heinemann was an advisor to Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. It was under Heinemann's expertise that Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza established the Thyssen Museum in Lugano, Switzerland. (The museum collection was later moved to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, Spain.) Heinemann served on the board of the New York University Institute of Fine Arts.

Heinemann collected Old Masters. According to The New York Times, it became "one of the finest collections of Old Master paintings and drawings in private hands." With his wife, Heinemann donated works of art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art and the Morgan Library & Museum.

Heinemann married Loretta Leiter. They resided at 907 Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Heinemann became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1941.

Heinemann died on February 7, 1975 in Lugano, Switzerland.