Mrs. Louis E. Raphael
(nee Henriette
Goldshmidt)
c 1905
Montgomery
Musuem of
Fine Arts
Montgomery, AL
Oil on canvas
59" x 39 "
Jpg:
Trey Smedley / local
(Click on image to Step Closer)
From: Theodore
Frangulescu
<theo do re.frang ulescu@ams.com>
in two letters
Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2002 &
Thu,
31 Jan 2002
My wife is the great
granddaughter
of Mrs. Louis E. Raphael (Henriette Goldschmidt) . . . a bit
about
[her]. And by the way, the family name is pronounced "ray-ful". Don't
ask
why. They were all eccentrics I guess!
The Raphaels were, and still
are,
the proprietors of a bank and brokerage house in London dating back to
the 18th century. They were a prominent and wealthy family, second only
to the Rothschilds at the time. Henriette married one of the many
Raphael
men involved in the business. Interestingly, Sargent also painted the
portrait
of 2 other Raphael wives.
While the Smithsonian has these catalogued as well, I have never seen
pictures
of them, nor do I know their whereabouts. Likely, they are still in the
family somewhere. Louis and Henriette had 2 sons. One of which, named
Stephen,
is my wife's grandfather. Her father is named Stephen and, you guessed
it, our son is also named Stephen. My wife's grandfather was the last
of
his line to be involved in the family business. Unfortunately, while I
can bore you with details about the family tree, I can't offer much
information
on Henriette herself.
My wife and I are hoping
to track
down some information on the othe 2 Raphael Sargents. If we do I'll be
glad to pass that along.
Thanks,
From: Natasha
Thank you and please keep
me posted.
This is wonderful.
From: Sheila
Maister
<she ila.ma
ister@kcl.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002
I am researching a member
of the
Raphael family, Henriette Raphael, who was married to the uncle of
Lewis
Raphael, whose wife's portrait was painted by Sargent [this
painting
above] (both women were named Henriette) . You mentioned in the
notes
three portraits of Raphael wives; what is the third?
I am in touch with
Danielle Frangulescu
(Theodore's wife) who is coming to London in November to visit the
building
where I work, which is named after her great-great aunt by marriage.
I hope this is not too
confusing.
I really like your website!
From: Theodore
Frangulescu
<theo d
ore.frangulescu@ams.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002
Here is a list of the 3
Sargent portraits
- Mrs. Louis E.
Raphael
(Henriette Goldschmidt)
- online (Above),
- Mrs.
Ernest G. Raphael (Flora Cecilia Sassoon) - online
- Mrs. William G.
Raphael
(Margherita
Goldsmid) - yet to be seen
One point of confusion is
that both
Louis and his uncle's wives were named Henriette. The elder Henriette
is
the one for whom the King's College building is named.
Note:
Special thanks to Trey
Smedley, a friend
of
the JSS
Gallery, for sending me this image; and Wim Meijer for additional
factual info.
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