111810

Baron Robert de Rothschild 1911

Oil [support and dimensions unknown]

Sitters’ Book I, f. 89: Robert Rothschild

Baron Rothschild’s relationship with de László was very friendly and he often referred to the artist as “notre peintre” in their correspondence.^[1] The artist also painted the Baron’s wife on two occasions, in 1913 [4623], for which he made a preparatory study [112191], and in 1922 [4625]. The sitter’s children were also painted, his daughter Cécile [110592] in 1921 and son Elie [4893] in 1922.

The present picture was exhibited in 1922 at Knoedler’s gallery at 17 Place Vendôme, in Paris, where it hung alongside the full-lengths of  Prince and Princess Christopher of Greece [7804][7809], King Gustave of Sweden [8017] and Corisande de Gramont [6939] dressed as an infanta. Lucy de Laszlo’s appointment book for 1911 indicates that the sitter paid 15,000 French Francs for the portrait.^[2]

Baron Robert Philippe Gustave de Rothschild was born in Paris 19 January 1880, the youngest of six children of Gustave de Rothschild and his wife Cécile. On 6 March 1907 he married Gabrielle Nelly Beer, with whom he had two sons and two daughters: Diane (born 1907), Alain (born 1910), Cécile (born 1913), and Elie (born 1917).

Robert and his family lived in Paris on the Avenue Friedland, and inherited the family home at Avenue Marigny and the estate of Laversine on the death of his father in 1911. Laversine was turned into a military hospital during the First World War, during which Robert served as a lieutenant, receiving two citations, including the Croix de Guerre.  

As well as owning a 50% share of the family bank de Rothschild Frères, Robert shared a family love of music and art, forming a collection of works by Picasso and Modigliani. He also had a passion for horses, keeping his own polo team at Laversine. He was president of the Paris Consistory in 1933, and led the community campaign to aid refugees from the Nazis, forming a foundation for this purpose in 1935. He also became founder-president of a new Committee of Assistance to Refugees, and took charge of the Centre of Documentation and Vigilance, connected to the Consistory.

Forced to leave France during the Second World War, Robert forfeited his French Nationality in 1940 and arrived with his family in Montreal, Canada as an immigrant 8 August 1940. Their sons Elie and Alain remained in France and were subsequently both captured by the occupying German forces.  

In 1950 the house at Laversine was given to the French nation and is occupied by a children's centre in one wing, while the other is a centre for vocational instruction known as the Robert and Nelly de Rothschild Foundation.

Robert died in Lausanne, Switzerland on 25 December 1946, a year after the death of his wife.

EXHIBITED:
Knoedler’s, Paris, 1922

LITERATURE:

•Grange, Paulin, “Les Portraits de Philippe A. de László,” La Revue de L’Art Ancien et Moderne, XLII (July/Aug. 1922), p. 142

•Field, Katherine ed., Transcribed by Susan de Laszlo, The Diaries of Lucy de László Volume I: (1890-1913), de Laszlo Archive Trust, 2019, p. 202

•Field, Katherine, with essays by Sandra de Laszlo and Richard Ormond, Philip de László: Master of Elegance, Blackmore, 2024, p. 91

•László Lucy de, 1911 diary, p. 187
•DLA092-0096, press cutting, The New York Herald, 8 June 1922

•DLA116-0012, Baron Robert Rothschild to de László, 30 October 1930

KF 2013