Podcast Hélène de Rothschild
The RKD, Netherlands Institute for Art History has created an episode on Hélène de Rothschild in its podcast series on women collectors. Katrien Timmers, curator of Kasteel de Haar, tells podcast maker Caspar Stalenhoef about the eventful life of Hélène baroness de Rothschild (1863-1947), wife of Etienne baron Van Zuylen van Nijevelt van De Haar.
Listen to the podcast
Quirky woman
Hélène de Rothschild descended from the well-known Jewish banking family De Rothschild. She was a free-spirited type. Hélène had an eventful life, very different from what her protective and conservative family had laid out for her. She married Etienne van Zuylen van Nijevelt in 1887, but made sure to maintain legal capacity in her marriage contract, a unique occurrence for the time. The couple shared a fondness for travel, horses and automobiles - Hélène was one of the first women ever to compete in an automobile race.
Hélène and Castle de Haar
Hélène de Rothschild's greatest cultural legacy is Castle de Haar. Etienne van Zuylen inherited it in 1890. The castle was then rebuilt and furnished with her money - and partly to her taste. The couple had two sons, the eldest of whom died in 1912 while on his way to Kasteel de Haar. After that, Hélène did not like coming there anymore, living more and more separately from Etienne. Around 1918 she began a relationship with the Portuguese writer and feminist Olga de Moraes, with whom she lived until her death.
Collecting for the interior
Besides the turbulent life of Hélène de Rothschild, her collection is also discussed. Caspar Stalenhoef talks about this with Katrien Timmers, who points out parts of her collection during a tour of various rooms in Kasteel de Haar. The castle is still decorated according to Hélène's taste. She was broadly interested and loved curious objects. In collecting art, ceramics and objects, she was very eclectic. Unlike her father and aunts, Timmers reveals, she was not a true art collector, she was particularly focused on furnishing the castle.
