A pair of French gilt-bronze two-light wall appliques, circa 1870

Alfred de Rothschild (1842-1918) at Halton House, Buckinghamshire.

Lionel de Rothschild (1882-1942).

Edmund de Rothschild (1916-2009) at Exbury House, Hampshire.

The Trustees of Exbury House; sold Woolley & Wallis, Exbury House: ‘Le Goût Rothschild’, 5th October 2022, lot 80.

The Provenance

The present wall lights were located at Exbury House where Edmund de Rothschild (1916-2009) resided. Exbury House was acquired in 1919 by Lionel de Rothschild (1882-1942), Edmund’s father, with the proceeds from the sale of Halton House which he had inherited from his uncle Alfred de Rothschild (1842-1918).

Alfred de Rothschild (1842-1918)

Halton House constructed from 1880 to July 1883, was inherited by Alfred de Rothschild on the death of his father in 1879. Alfred was the second son of Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (1808-1879) and Baroness Charlotte von Rothschild and studied at King's College, London before going on to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he formed a lasting friendship with the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. At the age of 21, Alfred was employed at the N M Rothschild Bank in London where he learned the business from his father and made valuable contacts in European banking circles. In 1868, at the age of 26, Alfred became a director of the Bank of England, a post he held for 20 years. A patron of the arts, he also donated funds for acquisitions to the National Art Gallery, London and he was trustee of both The National Gallery and the Wallace Collection. At the end of the 19th century he was considered `the finest amateur judge of French eighteenth–century art in England’ as together with Sir Richard Wallace was one of the most important collectors of French paintings, ceramics and furniture from the 18th century. At his death, many of the contents from Halton House were moved by his nephew Lionel to Exbury House, including the present lot.

Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (1882-1942) and Edmund de Rothschild (1916-2009)

The eldest son of Leopold de Rothschild and Marie Perugia, he was a banker by profession and Conservative politician, one of whose greatest achievements was the creation of Exbury Gardens by the New Forest in Hampshire. At Exbury, Lionel de Rothschild created an idyllic family home for his wife, Marie-Louise Beer and his young family, Rosemary, Edmund, Naomi, and Leopold. When he died suddenly in 1942, the estate was left at the end of the War to his eldest son, Edmund, who in his turn took care of Exbury’s house and gardens.

After his education at Harrow and Trinity College in Cambridge, Edmund de Rothschild was sent by his father on an 18-month tour around the world, of which he published an account Window on the World (1949). He not only explored the cultures of countries far from his own, such as China, Burma and India but he has also along the way picked up interest in the arts of these cultures. Edmund de Rothschild returned to England in May 1939 and worked at N M Rothschild & Sons until the outbreak of war in September when he joined the British Army until 1946. He then returned to work for his family’s banking business.