Alexis von Rosenberg, Baron de Rédé

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The Baron de Rédé at the Oriental bal in 1969
The Baron de Rédé at the Oriental bal in 1969

Alexis von Rosenberg, 2nd Baron de Rédé (4 February 1922 – 8 July 2004) was a prominent aristocratic aesthete, collector of French eighteenth-century furnishings and decorative arts,[1] and socialite both in European circles and in New York. It was not generally realized that he was writing his memoirs.

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[edit] Birth

He was born in Zurich, Switzerland, and was the son of Baron Oscar von Rosenberg, a Jewish banker from Austria-Hungary. [2] Alexis de Rede's father became a citizen of Liechtenstein and, according to Redé, was given the title of Baron de Rede by the Emperor of Austria in 1916.[3] Oscar von Rosenberg later committed suicide. Alexis's mother was descended from the von Kaullas, a German-Jewish family, who had been part owners of the Bank of Wurttemberg with the kings of that country. Redé and his brother were educated at Le Rosey in Switzerland. Following his father's suicide in 1939, he set off alone for New York. In 1946 he returned to Paris, in the entourage of Elsie de Wolfe, who was now Lady Mendl. [2]

[edit] Aesthete

The Baron de Rede was a committed aesthete. In 1949 he moved into the ground floor of the 17th century Hôtel Lambert on the Île Saint-Louis in Paris, and restored the building and its décor. In 2003 he was appointed a commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres,[4] for his restoration of the Hôtel Lambert. [5]

Rede's notoriety rested on being the best kept man in Paris: his wealth derived from his lover Arturo Lopez-Willshaw (1900-62), who continued to maintain a formal residence with his wife in Neuilly. The Hôtel Lambert dinner parties were at the center of le tout Paris. Philippe Jullian described the world of Lopez-Willshaw and Redé as like a small eighteenth-century court: members of the circle included the poet and patron of the Surrealists, Marie-Laure de Noailles (1902-70), musicians such as Henri Sauguet, Georges Auric, and Francis Poulenc, and the artist Christian Berard. Important influences were the interior decorators Georges Geffroi and Victor Grandpierre. Cecil Beaton photographed Nina Ricci's costumes for "the elegant aesthete" at the sensational 1951 Beistegui Ball in Venice given by his friend Carlos de Beístegui at his Venetian palace: Palazzo Labia.[6]

In 1956, at Alexis de Redé's Bal des Têtes, young Yves Saint-Laurent provided many of the headdresses—the Duchess of Windsor being one of the judges—and received a boost to his career. When Diana Vreeland heard of the plans for Rédé's upcoming Bal Orientale, to be given on 5 December 1969, she promptly contacted the Baron expressing her interest in having the event photographed by Vogue.[7] In 1972 Redé had his portrait painted by the fashionable painter Anthony Christian. In 1975 the Hôtel Lambert was purchased by Baron Guy de Rothschild, whose wife, Marie-Hélène de Rothschild was a close friend of Rédé, who inherited her beloved dachshund "Whiskey"; the Rothschilds henceforth used it as their Paris residence.

Redé had met Lopez-Wilshaw in a New York City restaurant. Lopez-Wilshaw was married to his own cousin, Patricia Lopez-Huici. [2] He offered to take Redé to Paris, where he had a house in Neuilly. "I was not in love," Redé recalled, "But I needed protection, and I was aware that he could provide this."[8] Patricia Lopez-Willshaw was cool to Redé. In 1962 Redé inherited half of Lopez-Wilshaw's fortune, [2] and to manage it he joined Prince Rupert zu Loewenstein in taking control of Leopold, Joseph & Sons, a bank where he served as Deputy Chairman. With Loewenstein he was closely involved in managing the money of the Rolling Stones, and he was a founder of Artemis, an investment fund specializing in the purchase of fine art.

[edit] Opinions

He was described as "the Eugene de Rastignac of modern Paris" by Sir Henry 'Chips' Channon and as "the best host in all Europe"; his parties were famous. [9] In 1953, author Mégret Christian published Danaé, a roman à clef based on Redé's life.[10]

Baron de Rede was for the most part unknown to the public at large. He did, however, live a life of immense luxury which infiltrated all areas of his life. His estate (the contents of his apartments at the Hôtel Lambert) was auctioned after his death by Sotheby's in a specially held sale and realized millions of pounds, included in the many items, which comprised three catalogues, was a 32-light chandelier expected to sell for between one and two million euros.

He died suddenly at the home of a friend, Carmen Saint, at the age of 82. His memoirs Alexis: The Memoirs of the Baron de Redé (edited by Hugo Vickers), were published posthumously in 2005.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Collection Du Baron De Redé Provenant de L'Hôtel Lambert., Paris, March 16 and 17, 2005, took two volumes to describe 908 lots. The first volume described eighteenth-century French furniture, works of art, paintings and fine books; the second was devoted to gold and silversmiths' work, porcelain and glass, and memorabilia. The first part of the sale realized €5.1 million (US$6.8)]: "Ce premier succès rend hommage au goût et à l'œil absolu du Baron de Redé"— "This first success renders homage to the taste and the perfect eye of the Baron de Redé", Sotheby's reported afterwards; the catalogues themselves are collector's items, currently selling at US$295. An earlier sale, Meubles et Objets D'Art Provenant de L'Hôtel Lambert et du Chateau de Ferrières, was conducted by Sotheby's Monte Carlo in May 1975: it was one of the premier sales of French furniture in that decade.
  2. ^ a b c d Baron de Rede; Daily Telegraph; September 7, 2004
  3. ^ The genuineness of the title was doubted by Nancy Mitford, among others.
  4. ^ Recipients must have "significantly contributed to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance", according to the Order's guidelines.
  5. ^ See also Christiane de Nicolay-Mazery and Jean-Bernard Naudin, Private Houses of Paris: The "Hotels Particuliers" Revealed 2000.
  6. ^ A portfolio was sold at Doyle New York, 17 November 2005 (On-line preview).
  7. ^ Diana Vreeland correspondence, New York Public Library
  8. ^ Redé 2005.
  9. ^ Daily Telegraph, 09/07/2004
  10. ^ Memoirs of the Baron de Redé

[edit] References

  • Ned Rorem, The Paris Diary and the New York Diary
  • Sir Henry Channon, 'Chips', the. Diaries of Sir Henry Channon (London, 1967)
  • Vickers, Hugh, ed. Alexis: the Memoirs of the Baron de Rédé (London) 2005


[edit] External links