Bethsabée de Rothschild
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Baroness Bethsabée de Rothschild (name sometimes spelled Batsheva; b. September 23, 1914, in London; died April 20, 1999, in Tel Aviv, Israel) was a philanthropist, a patron of dance, and member of the prominent Rothschild family.
Bethsabée de Rothschild was the great-granddaughter of James Mayer Rothschild (1792-1868), and the fourth and youngest child of Edouard Alphonse de Rothschild (1868-1949) and Germaine Alice Halphen (1884-1975) of the French Rothschild family. Her father ran the French bank with his cousin Robert Philippe de Rothschild (1880-1946). Educated in Paris, following the invasion of France in 1940, she fled with her family to New York City where she continued her studies in science at Columbia University.
Anxious to do something for her country, she enlisted in the Free French forces and was part of the landing force for the Battle of Normandy. She moved with the army to liberate Paris, where she served as a liaison between the French and United States military forces. At War's end, she went back to New York and enrolled at the Martha Graham dance school.
In 1951, she traveled to Israel for the first time and eventually settled there permanently in 1962. She adopted the Hebrew version of her name, "Batsheva". In Israel, she made significant contributions to dance through the establishment of the Batsheva Dance Company that became one of the most influential cultural role models in Israel. In 1967, she began a relationship, lasting more than thirty years, with the South African-born classical dancer, Jeannette Ordman, who had come to Israel in 1965 from London, England. With Rothschild's financial backing, they formed a dance school and a few years later the Bat-Dor Dance Company.
In addition to her cultural activities, Bethsabée de Rothschild created two foundations to advance science and technology in Israel for which she was awarded the Israel Prize in 1989. Through a Trust, she had inherited part a major art collection assembled by her grandfather, Alphonse James de Rothschild. The collection included a 17th century oil painting by Rembrandt and other Old Master paintings as well as Islamic and Venetian glass, decorative objects and porcelain, and Renaissance-style jewelry. Following her passing, the collections were auctioned off and the proceeds donated to charity. The Rembrandt work, titled "Portrait of a Lady," was sold by Christie's in London to the Dutch art dealer Robert Noortman for a record price of US$28.7 million. A 13th century Mamluk mosque lamp in pristine condition sold for US$4.8 million, a world record for Islamic glass.
Baroness Bethsabée de Rothschild died at her home in Tel Aviv in 1999 after a lengthy illness.
