Charlotte Béatrice de
Rothschild (September 14,
1864 - April 7, 1934) was a French
socialite, art
collector, and a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of
France.
Biography
Known as
Béatrice, she was born in Paris
, France, the
daughter of banker Alphonse James de Rothschild
(1827-1905) and Leonora de Rothschild (1837-1911), daughter of
Lionel de
Rothschild.
In 1883
Béatrice de Rothschild married the Russian
-born banker
Maurice Ephrussi (1849-1916) member
of the Ephrussi family and who had
been involved in with Rothschild families' oil business in the
Baku
area of present-day Azerbaijan
. The couple maintained a home in Monte Carlo
and Béatrice de Rothschild used her wealth to
travel the world and to acquire a collection of paintings including
Old Masters, plus sculptures, objets d'art, rare porcelain and antique furniture. She also
commissioned the
Rothschild Fabergé egg in
1902, presenting it to her future sister-in-law,
Germaine Alice Halphen, on the
occasion of her engagement to
Édouard Alphonse James
de Rothschild.
In 1902,
her husband's cousin, Théodore
Reinach began building a Grecian-style villa at Beaulieu-sur-Mer
on what became known as the French Riviera
. Visiting his Villa Kerylos
, Baroness Ephrussi de Rothschild fell in love with
the area and acquired a 17-acre parcel of land on Cap Ferrat
where she built a luxurious Venetian
style villa. She filled it with many of her
collections and created her own private
zoo with
exotic birds and animals including
flamingos budgerigars,
monkeys,
mongooses,
antelopes, and
gazelles.
Béatrice
Ephrussi de Rothschild died in Davos, Switzerland
in 1934. In her will, the Baroness gifted Villa
Ephrussi
and its art collections to the Académie des Beaux Arts
division of the Institut de France
for use as a museum. The property is now
open to public visitation.
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