Alice Charlotte von Rothschild | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 3 May 1922 75) Paris, France | (aged
Nationality | German |
Occupation | Socialite |
Known for | Member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria |
Alice Charlotte von Rothschild (17 February 1847 – 3 May 1922), otherwise referred to as 'Miss Alice', was a socialite and member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria. Born in Frankfurt, she was the eighth and youngest child of Anselm von Rothschild (1803–1874) and Charlotte Rothschild (1807–1859) and younger sister of the British politician, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild. She was quite young when her family moved to Vienna, where her father took over the management of the family-owned S M von Rothschild bank.
Alice von Rothschild's mother was the daughter of Nathan Mayer Rothschild of London and as a result, the family would have close connections to the English branch of the Rothschild family. Her brother Ferdinand, with whom she was believed to be very close, studied at Cambridge University and married an English cousin.
Her mother died when she was twelve and her busy father travelled constantly. She lived with various relations during her childhood and was often alone. She moved to England when she was 19. [1] Photographs of her as a girl and a young woman show her "with a broad brow, firm full lips and a strong chin, not conventionally pretty, but full of character". [2] This sense of character is what makes Miss Alice so renowned for her formidable reputation. Girouard states that two events helped convert the young, girlish woman to her strong older self, the first being hostess for her brother Ferdinand, at Leighton House and then at Waddesdon Manor - and the second that the death of her father in 1874 made her a wealthy woman. Much to the family's surprise, she was left the original Rothschild family home in Frankfurt alongside a house and estate at the Grunburg, just outside.
She lived in Piccadilly, London in a property adjacent to that of Ferdinand. When in 1874 he began the construction of Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire England, Alice acquired a nearby property at Eythrope for herself. [1] There, between 1876 and 1879, she had a park and garden created and a house built near the river called Eythrope Pavilion. Although, as Alice had suffered from rheumatic fever, she had been advised not to sleep near water as dampness would aggravate her health problem meaning her house was built for solely for daytime occupation. Therefore, at nights she returned to stay at Waddesdon Manor.
Her personality was to be very independent, exacting, self-assured and did not see the need to conform to society's expectation that women would marry. She was musical, well read, an accomplished horse rider and spoke several languages. She also collected art and had spectacular gardens created for her residences in England and France. She asked for her papers to be destroyed after her death, but many survive. [1]
In late 1898, following the death of her brother, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, Alice inherited Waddesdon Manor and his London House. During World War I she had the formal gardens at Waddesdon and Eythrope given over to the growing of vegetables for the less fortunate. The Eythrope Pavilion was still maintained but now as even more of an occasional retreat. As her health declined she spent more of her time at her magnificent château, "Villa Victoria", in the balmier climate of the town of Grasse in the Alpes-Maritimes département in France. Her property was located about 12 miles (19 km) inland, north of the Mediterranean coast and here she created an enormous garden that employed more than one hundred gardeners. She wanted to be near family, and her château was close to Cannes, where her cousin Laura Thérèse von Rothschild, widow of James-Edouard de Rothschild owned the Villa Rothschild, Cannes, and only 34 miles (55 km) from Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, the seaside estate owned by another cousin, Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild.
Queen Victoria holidayed in Grasse and visited Villa Victoria. According to the book The Rothschild Gardens by Miriam Rothschild, at the turn of the century, Alice Rothschild spent the equivalent of nearly £500,000 annually on her gardens and grounds at Grasse. Imperious in nature, Alice was a strong-willed person who spoke her mind. According to one anecdote: "the Queen stepped on a lawn and across a flower-bed [at Waddesdon Manor], inadvertently crushing several plants. The baroness could not contain herself and roughly told the sovereign in effect to 'Get out'. Thereafter the Queen always referred to her as 'The All-Powerful One'." [3]
Like many other members of the Rothschild family, Alice Rothschild was a collector of art. While she acquired paintings, sculptures and objets d'art , Alice von Rothschild also had a unique collection of smoking pipes, including French, Spanish and Italian examples from the 17th century. The collection was donated to the town of Grasse, France on her death in 1922, where her winter property was based. The château in Grasse later became the hotel "Parc Palace", where the famous French actor Gérard Philipe was raised. Avenue Rothschild in Grasse is named in her honor.
Along these same lines, Miss Alice was also an avid and careful collector for Waddesdon Manor, and added elements to Ferdinand's previous collection in order to fill the gap left when he bequeathed much of his Renaissance artwork to the British Museum (now referred to as the Waddesdon Bequest). For instance, the helmet of the Emperor Charles V is a prominent contribution of Miss Alice's to the Armoury Corridor, upstairs in the Bachelor's Wing. She regarded herself as 'the protector' of Ferdinand's inheritance and is famous for establishing ‘Miss Alice’s Rules' – guidelines for the care and preservation of the collections which formed the foundation for conservation practices at the National Trust. [4]
Alice von Rothschild died on 3 May 1922 in Paris, at the age of 75. She bequeathed the Waddesdon estate to her nephew, James Armand de Rothschild. [5]
An exhibition about the role of von Rothschild in the history of Waddesdon Manor was held there in 2022. [1]
The Rothschild family is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of Frankfurt, Holy Roman Empire, who established his banking business in the 1760s. Unlike most previous court factors, Rothschild managed to bequeath his wealth and established an international banking family through his five sons, who established businesses in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Vienna, and Naples. The family was elevated to noble rank in the Holy Roman Empire and the United Kingdom. The family's documented history starts in 16th century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, built by Isaak Elchanan Bacharach in Frankfurt in 1567.
Rothschild is a name derived from the German zum rothen Schild, meaning "to the red shield", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by signs with different symbols or colors, not numbers. The name Rothschild in Yiddish means "red coat". The Rothschild banking family's coat of arms features in the center of its heraldry a red shield.
Waddesdon Manor is a country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. Owned by the National Trust and managed by the Rothschild Foundation, it is one of the National Trust's most visited properties, with over 463,000 visitors in 2019.
Waddesdon is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, 6 miles (10 km) west-north-west of Aylesbury on the A41 road. The village also includes the hamlets of Eythrope and Wormstone. Waddesdon was an agricultural settlement with milling, silk weaving and lace making enterprises.
Eythrope is a hamlet and country house in the parish of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located to the south east of the main village of Waddesdon. It was bought in the 1870s by a branch of the Rothschild family, and belongs to them to this day.
George Devey was an English architect notable for his work on country houses and their estates, especially those belonging to the Rothschild family. The second son of Frederick and Ann Devey, he was born and educated in London.
Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, also known as Ferdinand James Anselm Freiherr von Rothschild, was a British banker, art collector and politician who was a member of the Rothschild family of bankers. He identified as a Liberal, later Liberal Unionist, and sat as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1898. Ferdinand had a younger sister, Alice, who like her brother was a keen horticulturalist and collector. She inherited Ferdinand's property, Waddesdon Manor, in 1898 after he died and likewise continued the tradition of using the house as a place to keep his collections.
James Armand Edmond de Rothschild DCM DL, sometimes known as Jimmy de Rothschild, was a British Liberal politician and philanthropist, from the wealthy Rothschild international banking dynasty.
Hippolyte Destailleur was a French architect, interior designer, and collector. He is noted for his designs and restoration work for great châteaux in France and in England, as well as his collection of books, prints, and drawings, covering French artists of the 18th and 19th centuries, much of which is now in the Cabinet des Estampes of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
Dorothy de Rothschild was an English philanthropist and activist for Jewish affairs who married into the wealthy Rothschild banking family.
The Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, also called Villa Île-de-France, is a French seaside villa located at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the French Riviera. Designed by the French architect Aaron Messiah, it was built between 1907 and 1912 by Baroness Béatrice de Rothschild (1864–1934).
Charlotte Béatrice de Rothschild was a French socialite, art collector, and a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of France.
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The Rothschild banking family of England is the English branch of the Rothschild family. It was founded in 1798 by Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777–1836), who first settled in Manchester before moving to London, England, which was then part of the Kingdom of Great Britain. He was sent there from his home in Frankfurt by his father, Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812). Wanting his sons to succeed on their own and to expand the family business across Europe, Mayer Amschel Rothschild had his eldest son remain in Frankfurt, while his four other sons were sent to different European cities to establish a financial institution to invest in business and provide banking services. Nathan Mayer Rothschild, the third son, first established a textile jobbing business in Manchester and from there went on to establish N M Rothschild & Sons bank in London.
Nathaniel Meyer von Rothschild was a member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria, known as art collector and patron.
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Maurice Ephrussi was a French banker and horsebreeder.
Le goût Rothschild, describes a detailed, elaborate style of interior decoration and living which had its origin in France, Britain, Austria, and Germany during the nineteenth century, when the rich, famous, and powerful Rothschild family was at its height. The Rothschild aesthetic and life-style later influenced other rich and powerful families, including the Astors, Vanderbilts and Rockefellers, and became hallmarks of the American Gilded Age. Aspects of le goût Rothschild continued into the twentieth century, affecting such designers as Yves Saint Laurent and Robert Denning.
The Rothschild family is a European family of German Jewish origin that established European banking and finance houses from the late eighteenth century.
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