On the Riviera, Villa Ephrussi is one of the most luxurious mansions built in the early twentieth century and is perched on a rocky outcrop above the bay of Villefranche. The house was built for the Baroness Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild, inspired by Italian palaces of the seventeenth century and is surrounded by seven gardens.
History of the Villa Ephrussi
Beatrice de Rothschild was born September 14, 1864 from the union of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild Leonora von Rothschild (1837-1911) after the Rothschilds branch called “London.”
She married the Russian Jewish billionaire banker Maurice Ephrussi June 5, 1883. It is then aged 19. The couple separated in 1904, Baroness blaming her husband’s addiction to gambling The couple is passionate about architecture, nature and art and lavish mansions and collect rare items. Baroness leads a lifestyle queen of France Marie-Antoinette.
Like his father, Alphonse de Rothschild, Regent of the Banque de France, a major shareholder of the Company of Railways in Paris and Lyon to the Mediterranean (PLM), a member of the Academy of fine arts, or his uncle Alfred de Rothschild, curator of the Wallace Collection in London, Beatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild collecting works of art and residences.
Through his career, his taste for French eighteenth century or the exotic, it fits in the tradition of great art collectors of the era: Cernuschi Jacquemart-Andre, Wallace Frick, plus many members family (Edmond de Rothschild, Ferdinand de Rothschild (Waddesdon), etc. … It prospects and brought by train to Beaulieu-sur-Mer works it selects the station platform. Wearing his taste for art in the extreme, they say one day she bought a chapel just to remove a mural.
Villa Ephrussi