Alexis von Rosenberg, Baron de Redé

Alexis von Rosenberg, Baron de Redé

Redé in the middle at his Bal oriental in 1969.[1] Photo by Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield.
Born (1922-02-04)4 February 1922
Zurich, Switzerland
Died 8 July 2004(2004-07-08) (aged 82)
Paris, France
Nationality French

Oskar Dieter Alex von Rosenberg-Redé, 3rd Baron von Rosenberg-Redé[2][3][4] (4 February 1922 – 8 July 2004), also known as Alexis, Baron de Redé, was a prominent French banker, aristocratic, aesthete, collector,[5] and socialite.

Birth

Oskar Dieter Alex von Rosenberg-Redé[6] was born in Zurich, Switzerland, the younger son and third and youngest child of Oskar Adolf von Rosenberg-Redé, 1st Baron von Rosenberg-Redé (1878–1939), a banker from Austria-Hungary.[7] His father—whose mother was Hungarian, whose father was unknown, and who was adopted by a banker by the name of Rosenberg—became a citizen of Liechtenstein and was created a baron by the Emperor of Austria in 1916.[3][8][9][10] Alexis's mother was Edith von Kaulla, a member of an ennobled German Jewish family that had been part-owners of the Bank of Württemberg. Redé was educated at Le Rosey in Switzerland.

He had two siblings:

Following the suicide of his father in 1939 at the family's estate (Villa Rosin) in the Austrian town of Kaumberg, Redé moved to New York City, where he briefly attempted to acquire American citizenship.[12][13] His brother committed suicide in Hollywood in 1942, whereupon Redé became the third and last Baron von Rosenberg-Redé, which was typically abbreviated as Baron de Redé in France. In 1946, he returned to Paris, in the entourage of Elsie de Wolfe.[7]

Aesthete

Redé 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,[14] for his restoration of the Hôtel Lambert.[15]

Redé's notoriety rested on being a kept man. His wealth derived from his lover, Arturo Lopez-Willshaw (1900–62), a married Chilean millionaire, who settled $1 million on Redé shortly after they became a couple. Lopez-Willshaw, however, continued to maintain a formal residence with his wife, Patricia, in Neuilly.[11] As Redé recalled of the beginning of his relationship with Lopez-Willshaw, which commenced in 1941 when he was 19, "I was not in love. But I needed protection, and I was aware that he could provide this."[11] In addition, he observed, "The money gave me the security I craved, and it would also enable me to look after my handicapped sister."[11]

In 1953, author Christian Mégret published Danaé, a roman à clef based on Redé's and Lopez-Willshaw's life together. The racy details were provided by one of their close friends and Mégret's companion, Ghislaine, Princess de Polignac.[16][17]

Lopez-Willshaw's wife, a first cousin born Patricia Lopez-Huici, was cool towards her husband's companion, though the three often traveled together and attended social events as a group.[7][18] In 1962, when Arturo Lopez-Willshaw died, Redé inherited half of his fortune;.[7] To manage it, he joined Prince Rupert Loewenstein in taking control of Leopold Joseph & Sons, a bank where he served as the deputy chairman. With Loewenstein, Redé was closely involved in managing the money of the Rolling Stones. He was also a founder of Artemis, an investment fund specializing in the purchase of fine art.

Role as host

Redé was described as "the Eugène de Rastignac of modern Paris" by Sir Henry 'Chips' Channon and as "the best host in all Europe"; his parties were the center of le tout-Paris.[19] Philippe Jullian described the world of Lopez-Willshaw and Redé as like a small 18th-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 Bérard. Important influences were the interior decorators Georges Geffroy and Victor Grandpierre. Nina Ricci designed the costumes of Redé and the Lopez-Willshaws for the famous 1951 Bal oriental given by Carlos de Beistegui at his Venetian palace, the Palazzo Labia.[20]

In 1956, at Redé's Bal des Têtes, the 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 Redé's Bal oriental in 1969, she promptly contacted Redé and expressed her interest in having the event photographed for Vogue.[21] The guest list was the crème de la crème of international high society.

Later life

In 1972, Redé had his portrait painted by the fashionable painter Anthony Christian. In that year, he was also named in the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.[22][23]

In 1975, the Hôtel Lambert was purchased by Baron Guy de Rothschild, whose wife, Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, was a close friend of Redé. The Rothschilds henceforth used it as their Paris residence.

Death

Redé 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, were published posthumously in 2005. Hugo Vickers was its editor and ghostwriter.[24]

Redé's estate (notably the contents of his apartment at the Hôtel Lambert) was auctioned after his death by Sotheby's and realized £5.2 million.[25]

Barons von Rosenberg-Redé

Notes

  1. ↑ Alexis: The Memoirs of the Baron de Redé. 2005. p. 131. ISBN 1-904349-03-X.
  2. ↑ Full name of Oskar Dieter Alex von Rosenberg-Redé cited on passenger manifest, in 1939; accessed on ancestry.com on 5 January 2012
  3. 1 2 Full title of Baron von Rosenberg-Redé" also cited in Der Wirtschaftskrieg: Frankreich, bearbeitet von Hermann Curth und Hans Wehberg (G. Fischer, 1918), page 274
  4. ↑ Title also given in an October 1939 immigration document filed in Auswanderungsamt und Auswanderungsbüro. Überseeische Auswanderungen aus der Schweiz, 1910-1953. Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv. E 2175 - 2, Band 56.
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ Full name as given on passenger manifest, on 21 October 1939; accessed on ancestry.com on 5 January 2012
  7. 1 2 3 4 Baron de Rede Daily Telegraph; September 7, 2004
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ Baron de Rede The Daily Telegraph
  10. ↑ This was a genuine title, though since it was not of a rank sufficient to appear in the Almanach de Gotha, its validity was often questioned.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Owens, Mitchell (March 10, 2005). "The Keepsakes of a Kept Man". New York Times.
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ Citizenship request cited on 1939 naturalization papers filed and accessed on ancestry.com on 5 January 2012
  14. ↑ Recipients must have "significantly contributed to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance", according to the Order's guidelines.
  15. ↑ See also Christiane de Nicolay-Mazery and Jean-Bernard Naudin, Private Houses of Paris: The "Hotels Particuliers" Revealed 2000.
  16. ↑ Memoirs of the Baron de Redé
  17. ↑
  18. ↑ The death notice of Patricia Lopez-Willshaw in Kitzbühel on 14 January 2010]
  19. ↑ Daily Telegraph, 9 July 2004
  20. ↑ A portfolio was sold at Doyle New York, 17 November 2005 (On-line preview).
  21. ↑ Diana Vreeland correspondence, New York Public Library
  22. ↑ Vanity Fair Archived June 1, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  23. ↑ Ultimate Style - The Best of the Best Dressed List. 2004. p. 117. ISBN 2 84323 513 8.
  24. ↑ The World of Baron Alexis de Rede: Interview with Hugo Vickers by Duncan Campbell, Acne Paper # 10, August 2010
  25. ↑ Bennett, Will. "Art sales: Paris snaps up the high life". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-04-16.

References

External links

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