Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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. Known as Béatrice, she was born in Paris, France, the daughter of the extremely wealthy banker Alphonse James de Rothschild (1827-1905) and Leonora de Rothschild (1837-1911).

In 1883 Béatrice de Rothschild married the Russian-born banker Maurice Ephrussi (1849-1916) 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.

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 there, Baroness Ephrussi de Rothschild fell in love with the area and acquired a 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.