Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild

Jacques-Marcel Auburtin

Aaron Messiah

1905

Photograph of house surrounded by gardens and fountain and flanked by two tall palm trees, with mountains in background.

The neoclassical Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, designed for the Baroness Charlotte Béatrice de Rothschild, remains Aaron Messiah’s most famous work. Located in Cap Ferrat in southern France, the building, surrounded by gardens, has a loggia with a view of the sea on all sides, meant to resemble the bridge of a ship, a design reportedly inspired by the baroness’s fond memories of an ocean voyage.

Credits

Photo by Berthold Werner, June 10, 2011. Licensed under (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 7.

Engage with this Source

Creator Bio

Jacques-Marcel Auburtin

1872–1926

Born in Paris to the architect Alexandre Émile Auburtin, Jacques-Marcel Auburtin graduated from the École des Beaux-Arts in 1896. He worked on a number of municipal buildings in Paris, including La nouvelle Sorbonne (with Henri-Paul Nénot, 1896–1899), Colisee Gaumont (1912), and the Salle Pleyel (with André Granet and Jean-Baptiste Mathon, 1927). Auburtin was a founding member of the Société française des urbanistes and theorized how to rebuild France after World War I in a novel 1915 treatise that proposed indoor plumbing and sewage, electricity, and other innovations. His brother, Jean-Francis Auburtin (1866–1930), was a landscape painter.

Creator Bio

Aaron Messiah

1858–1940

Born in Nice to a family in the textile business, Aaron Messiah began an architectural apprenticeship at the age of fourteen after his family suffered financial losses. In his twenties, he designed buildings for Protestant churches in Nice, going on to work for several powerful clients, including, notably, King Leopold II of Belgium. The neoclassical Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, designed for the Baroness Charlotte Béatrice de Rothschild, remains Messiah’s most famous work. Located in Cap Ferrat in southern France, the building, surrounded by gardens, has a loggia with a view of the sea on all sides, meant to resemble the bridge of a ship, a design reportedly inspired by the baroness’s fond memories of an ocean voyage.

You may also like

The Glass Bell

Opposite the windowsill is a shuttered curtain and a wasteland of chimneys. The street is being drained of life. A double-decker bus with gleaming windows of light passes by the corner. A woman pushes…
View Source
Painting of woman looking at viewer holding paintbrush and palette next to painting of mother and child.
Tooltip info icon

Self-Portrait

In a self-portrait from ca. 1721, Catherine da Costa depicts herself at work in a studio, painting a portrait of mother and child that resembles paintings of the Madonna and child.
View Source