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Born in Cologne, Jakob Friedrich van der Nüll (1750–1823) came to Vienna in 1781, where he came to wealth as a banker and shareholder in a textile manufactory. A passionate collector, he invested his fortune in books, prints, conchylia and, above all, minerals, which he had systematically catalogued and scientifically recorded. It was at this time that geology became a popular hobby in the bourgeoisie. After his death, the Nüll mineral collection with its more than five thousand specimens went to the Imperial Court Mineral Cabinet. Today it is housed in the Natural History Museum in Vienna. There, art historian Dr Marthe Kretzschmar examines the precious collection, which reveals a great deal about the history of geological knowledge and its influence on sculpture.