Académie des Beaux Arts, Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
You are here: / Rothschild family papers / Papers of institutions / Académie des Beaux Arts, Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
With the development of the railway, the French Riviera had become popular with European high society, and Baroness Charlotte (Béatrice) Ephrussi (née de Rothschild) (1864-1934) built or renovated no less than four houses along the coast.
Béatrice married Baron Maurice Ephrussi, a Russian-born member of the aristocratic Ephrussi family in 1883. The couple maintained an impressive estate, the Château de Reux along with L'Hôtel Ephrussi-Rothschild in the avenue Foch in Paris and villas in Monte Carlo, attracted it is said to the area by the casino of which they were both rumoured to be fond. The couple used Béatrice's 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.
The Villa Île de France (Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild)
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 his Villa Kerylos, Béatrice fell in love with the area and conceived the plan to construct the Villa Île de France (Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild). Béatrice acquired a 17-acre (69,000 m2) parcel of land on Cap Ferrat where she built a luxurious Venetian style villa in the Goût Rothschild designed by Aaron Messiah, a local architect.
Between 1905 and 1912 Béatrice worked closely with the architect to produce a partly Italianate, partly Spanish villa with a pink and white façade and red pantiles. Each room was arranged specifically to show off her collection of objets d’art to their best advantage. The drawing-room was Louis XV style and the dining-room was Gothic, while all the other rooms were Regency. The gardens surrounding the house were particularly beautiful, and were laid in varying styles to include a Spanish, Florentine, stone, Japanese, English and French garden.
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. The completed villa formed the backdrop for her art collections, some inherited from her father. However, the overall effect was more of a museum than a domestic house, and Béatrice rarely lived there.
Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild died in 1934 at the age of 69 at the Hôtel d'Angleterre in Davos, Switzerland. She was buried in Paris in the Père Lachaise cemetery. In her will, the Baroness bequeathed the Villa Île de France and its art collections to the Académie des Beaux Arts division of the Institut de France for use as a museum; today The Musée Ephrussi de Rothschild preserves the name of Béatrice's husband together with her own.
Villa et Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild »
Académie des Beaux-Arts, Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild: artefacts, commemorative medallion, c.1935
000/1167, 1 item
Bronze medallion: Institut de France, Academie des Beaux-Arts, Fondation Ephrussi de Rothschild. It is believed that this medallion was struck to commemorate the bequest of Charlotte (Beatrice), Baroness Maurice Ephrussi (née de Rothschild) (1864-1934) to the Académie des Beaux-Arts. One side shows the Villa Île-de-France (Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild); the other is the head of Charlotte (Beatrice), Baroness Maurice Ephrussi (née de Rothschild).
Académie des Beaux-Arts, Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild: inventories, 1940; 1945
000/1913/2, 1 file
Photocopies of the inventories of the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild for years 1940 and 1945. Copies made from papers in the archive collections of the Académie des Beaux Arts, Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.
Académie des Beaux-Arts, Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild: postcards, c.1960-1991
000/1971/13-18, 6 items
Postcards of the interior and collections of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, museum and gardens.
- Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Villa Musée. “Ile de France”, Floraison de nénuphars dans le bassins fu Jardin à la Français [view of the house from across the lily pond] c.1960;
- Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Villa Musée. “Ile de France”, Le Salon d’art d’Extrême-Orient [Room of Far-East art] c.1960;
- Insitut de France, Académie des Beaux-Arts, Fondation Ephrussi de Rothschild, Grand Salon Louis XVI c.1970;
- Insitut de France, Académie des Beaux-Arts, Fondation Ephrussi de Rothschild, Galerie Ouest du Patio c.1970;
- Institut de France,Académie des Beaux-Arts Fondation Ephrussi de Rothschild, Jardins et Villa Ile-de-France, 1986;
- Institut de France Académie des Beaux-Arts Fondation Ephrussi de Rothschild, Escalier d’honneur, 1991.
Académie des Beaux-Arts, Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild: publications, 1969; 2002
000/2576/1-2, 2 volumes
Publications of the Institut de France, Académie des Beaux-Arts, Fondation Ephrussi de Rothschild:
- Fondation Ephrussi de Rothschild, Villa-Musée, Île de France, Saint-Jean-Cap Ferrat, (Les Éditions Nagel, Paris, 1969);
- The Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, (Beaux Arts Magazine, Paris, 2002).
Académie des Beaux-Arts, Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild: fund-raising appeal brochure, c.2018
000/2576/3, 1 volume
Booklet, Contributez a la restoration du mobilier du grand salon Louis XVI de la Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild a Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, Alpes-Mairtimes: a fund-raising brochure for the restoration of furniture in the Grand Salon Louis XVI in the Villa Ephrussi, (Fondation du Patrimoine/Academie des Beaux-Arts).
Académie des Beaux-Arts, Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild: secondary sources, 'L'Illustration', 1938
000/1913/1, 1 item
Article in L'Illustration No.4962, 9 April 1938, 'La Villa Ile-de-France, Érigée en Musée'. [photocpopy]
Académie des Beaux-Arts, Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild: secondary sources, 'Des Racines & des Ailes', 2006
000/1698, 1 DVD
DVD of France 3 television broadcast of a programme including material about Charlotte (Beatrice), Baroness Maurice Ephrussi (née de Rothschild) (1864-1934), and the Villa Île-de-France (Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild). Broadcast in series Des Racines & des Ailes 18 October 2006.