Francesco von Mendelssohn (born Franz von Mendelssohn; 6 September 1901 – 22 September 1972) was a German

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

and art collector. He also became known during the 1920s as a stage actor and theater director. He acquired additional notability with a lifestyle that some found eccentric. Georg Zivier: ''Romanisches Café'', Berlin 1965, pp. 78ff

Biography

Family provenance and early years

He was born in Berlin. His great-great-great-grandfather, the philosopher

Moses Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the ''Haskalah'', or 'J ...

(1729–1786), had become the ancestor of a prominent dynasty of bankers and musicians, notably

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

and his sister

Fanny Mendelssohn Fanny Mendelssohn (14 November 1805 – 14 May 1847) was a German composer and pianist of the early Romantic era who was known as Fanny Hensel after her marriage. Her compositions include a string quartet, a piano trio, a piano quartet, an or ...

, who were thereby Franz's first cousins three times removed (generationally). Franz von Mendelssohn, who later Italianised his first name, was the son of the banker and his young wife Giulietta Gordigiani. She was a daughter of the fashionable Florentine portraitist Michele Gordigiani. After her husband died in 1917 and her daughter married pianist

Edwin Fischer Edwin Fischer (6 October 1886 – 24 January 1960) was a Swiss classical pianist and conductor. He is regarded as one of the great interpreters of J.S. Bach and Mozart in the twentieth century. Biography Fischer was born in Basel and studied m ...

, she moved to Italy with her daughter Angelica von Mendelssohn. In 1923 she met the cellist Gaspar Cassadó, who was 26 years younger than she was, with whom she lived for more than 30 years. Francesco stayed in the large family home at Königsallee 16 in Berlin's

Grunewald Grunewald is the name of both a locality and a forest in Germany: * Grunewald (forest) * Grunewald (locality) Grünewald may refer to: * Grünewald (surname) * Grünewald, Germany, a municipality in Brandenburg, Germany * Grünewald (Luxembourg), ...

quarter, next to a very large number of Mendelssohn cousins in Berlin. The house contained numerous antiquities and, most notably, the large art collection that Robert von Mendelssohn had built up. This included works by Guardi,

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, an ...

and

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

. There were also two paintings attributed at that time to

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

: a self-portrait and a portrait of

Hendrickje Stoffels Hendrickje Stoffels (1626 – 21 July 1663) was the longtime partner of Rembrandt. The couple were unable to marry because of the financial settlement linked to the will of Rembrandt's deceased wife Saskia van Uylenburgh, Saskia, but they remaine ...

(after Mendelssohn's death re-attributed to the "school of Rembrandt" and with doubts about its attribution). From 1910 Robert von Mendelssohn had aggressively and presciently expanded the collection, selecting works by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

Max Slevogt Max Slevogt (8 October 1868 – 20 September 1932) was a German Impressionist painter and illustrator, best known for his landscapes. He was, together with Lovis Corinth and Max Liebermann, one of the foremost representatives in Germany of t ...

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

and

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

. Francesco showed a similarly sure touch in his selection, buying works by

Toulouse-Lautrec ''Comte'' Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), known as Toulouse-Lautrec (), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful an ...

, Segantini and

Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. A pivotal figure in landscape painting, his vast output si ...

. His greater love was for music and the theatre, however. As a pupil of

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Arthur Williams he became a professional cellist. He became a solo performer, and was also, at different rimes, a member of the Busch quartet and of the Klingler quartet. Reflecting the large social network of which the Mendelssohns were at the heart, members of Berlin's intellectual elite with whom he played chamber music in private included

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

. He also wrote a book about

Eleonora Duse Eleonora Giulia Amalia Duse ( , ; 3 October 185821 April 1924), often known simply as Duse, was an Italian actress, rated by many as the greatest of her time. She performed in many countries, notably in the plays of Gabriele D'Annunzio and Henr ...

, who was a friend of his mother's and his sister's God mother. He translated the plays of

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...

from

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, at the same time working as a movie actor and as a theatre director. Co-stars included

Lotte Lenya Lotte Lenya (born Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer; 18 October 1898 – 27 November 1981) was an Austrian-American singer, diseuse, and actress, long based in the United States. In the German-speaking and classical music world, she is be ...

Peter Lorre Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, active first in Europe and later in the United States. Known for his timidly devious characters, his appearance, and accented vo ...

, Fritz Kortner, Theo Lingen,

Heinz Rühmann Heinrich Wilhelm "Heinz" Rühmann (; 7 March 1902 – 3 October 1994) was a German film actor who appeared in over 100 films between 1926 and 1993. He is one of the most famous and popular German actors of the 20th century, and is considered a Ge ...

and

Paul Hörbiger Paul Hörbiger (29 April 1894 – 5 March 1981) was an Austrians, Austrian theatre and film actor. Life and work Paul Hörbiger was born in the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, Hungarian capital Budapest, then part of Austria-Hungary, the ...

. Among social commentators Francesco von Mendelssohn became known as an eccentric. He drove a white

Lancia Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe, which is the European subsidiary of Stellantis. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganise ...

cabriolet in which the seat covers were made of ermine, and often appeared in public wearing a red leather suit or a yellow silk dressing gown. With his friend Ruth Landshoff he like to turn up wearing an evening dress, while she, as his partner, wore his suit. In his parents' house in Grunewald he held high-profile social events at which leading figures from the arts and politics mingled with men from the

gay community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individua ...

. His close friends included Harald Kreutzberg,

Vladimir Horowitz Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz (November 5, 1989) was a Russian and American pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all time, he was known for his virtuoso technique, timbre, and the public excitement engendered by his playing. Life ...

und Gustaf Gründgens. His various lovers are believed to have included Ruth Landshoff.

Emigration

The Mendelssohns were baptised as Christians but, as racist awareness increased, widely perceived as

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. After the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

came to power in January 1933, the Mendelssohns were persecuted as Jews. It became apparent that the

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

which had underpinned the populist rhetoric of the

in opposition was no mere empty threat, even though a Christian baptism might be regarded by some as sufficient protection against the rising threat of state persecution. The von Mendelssohn siblings emigrated. While Eleonora, who at this point was married to an Austrian, moved back to , in

Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...

, and not far from

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

. Francesco von Mendelssohn stayed away from German speaking central Europe, spending most of the time between 1933 and 1935 in Paris. He also took the opportunity to extend and deepen his contacts in the United States. As early as April 1933 he staged Brecht's ''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a 1928 German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François V ...

'' at the Empire Theater on Broadway. It was the work's US premiere, but the production was not a success, closing after twelve nights. Francesco von Mendelssohn spent the summer of 1935 in Venice and then, travelling with Eleonora,

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

and the impresario

Meyer Weisgal Meyer Wolf Weisgal (; November 10, 1894 – September 29, 1977) was an American journalist, publisher, playwright, fundraiser, and Zionist activist who served as the President of the Weizmann Institute of Science and as the founding President of ...

, set sail in September from

Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...

aboard the ''Majestic'', in order to start a new life in New York City. Here he worked as a production assistant with

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his radically innovative and avant-gard ...

. Initially he lived in hotels in New York. Later he acquired a house in 83rd Street where he resumed his habit of throwing lavish parties for members of the artistic elite. He moved briefly to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, but by 1937 was back in New York. His work on a production of '' The Eternal Road'' by

Franz Werfel Franz Viktor Werfel (; 10 September 1890 – 26 August 1945) was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet whose career spanned World War I, the Interwar period, and World War II. He is primarily known as the author of '' The Forty ...

and

led to a falling out with Reinhardt in 1937. The massive fortune that the von Mendelssohn siblings had inherited from their banker father was greatly diminished by the anti-semitic measures imposed by Nazis that accompanied in their emigration, but they remained wealthy by most standards and were able to provide financial support to other refugees. Eleanora had been able to take part of the art collection to Austria when she moved there, and they had also managed to convey the two supposed Rembrandt paintings to Christoph Bernoulli, the Basel art dealer, leaving at the Mendelssohn Bank in Berlin some copies that their grandfather had had made. However, fearing government reprisals if the switch was noticed, a cousin persuaded them to have the real pictures returned to Germany where arranged for them to be lodged with the

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

in order to prevent their sale abroad. Ownership of the works, at this point, rested with Francesco's mother, Giulietta von Mendelssohn. In the end she decided to have them sold, entrusting the transaction to the family's agent, Aldo Cima. He arranged for the sale of most of the Mendelssohn art collection through the Austrian dealer, . Francesco von Mendelssohn had a history of melancholy that predated his emigration, and in his American exile he became a high level depressive, also suffering badly from

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

after 1937. Bernoulli portrayed him at this time as childish, probably afflicted with

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...

alongside his other ailments, and badly in need of serious therapy if he were to pull through. During the next few years he was a patient in a series of clinics, and also frequently found himself detained in various prison cells after becoming involved in "incidents" and fights.

Seeking restitution

The end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

raised the possibility of restitution following the loss of the von Mendelssohn art collection. Francesco was no longer in any state to attend to the matter, and it was left to his sister Eleonora to travel to Europe to try and recover the lost art works. After Aldo Cima's suggestion that she should bribe the museum directors had been rejected, she sought to achieve restitution through a combination of appeals for reimbursement and attempts to buy some of the paintings back. One problem that she faced was that the paintings had been the property of her mother, Giulietta von Mendelssohn, who had been classified as an

Aryan ''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''), Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood ...

. It was therefore not possible to demonstrate that she had been forced to give up the collection as a result of race-based persecution. In the end her application for restitution was rejected by the German authorities in 1953, but by this time Eleonora von Mendelssohn was no longer in a position to know of it. In January 1951 her (fourth) husband,

Martin Kosleck Martin Kosleck (born Nicolaie Yoshkin; March 24, 1904 – January 15, 1994) was a German film actor. Like many other German actors, he fled when the Nazi Germany, Nazis came to power. Inspired by his deep hatred of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis ...

fell out of an apartment window and was badly injured. At about the same time, her brother Francesco suffered a stroke following a fight and arrest. Eleonora von Mendelssohn was found dead on 24 January 1951. The evidence suggested suicide. Eleonora von Mendelssohn left substantial debts. Francesco von Mendelssohn, with help from his sister's executrix, Lillian D. Rock, made another attempt to recover the pictures from he Mendelssohn collection. He now asserted that their mother had gifted the pictures to Eleonora and himself on New Year's Eve in 1932.

, by now an international celebrity, spoke out in support of Mendelssohn's claim. But the authorities were unmoved. The portrait of

attributed to Rembrandt, which had been purchased for the "Fuhrer Museum" in

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

, was handed over by the US occupying forces to the Munich-based Treuhandverwaltung (public trusteeship administration). After Mendelssohn's claim for restitution had been rejected it was loaned by the West German government to the

Alte Pinakothek The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pin ...

art gallery in Munich and then, in 1967, transferred to the

Städel The Städel, officially the ''Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie'', is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The museum is located at the Museumsufer on the Sachsenhausen bank of t ...

institute in Frankfurt. The 1652

''Self-portrait in a fur coat with gold chain and earring'' had been sold through Schatzker to the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien ( "Vienna Museum of art history, Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, i ...

in Vienna: it is still there. After the first rejection of the case based on Francesco von Mendelssohn's belated recollection concerning the alleged transfer of ownership from their mother to her children back in 1932, Lillian Rock, his sister's executrix withdrew from the case. Later, at a public hearing on the matter held before the district court in Vienna, no one turned up to represent the Mendelssohn family's position, and their application was again rejected.

Final years

Francesco von Mendelssohn had been in no position to appear at that hearing on his own behalf. He spent a period as an inmate at a psychiatric clinic in

White Plains, New York White Plains is a city in and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, and a commercial hub of Westchester County, a densely populated suburban county that is home to about one milli ...

. There are contemporary reports that he may have undergone a

lobotomy A lobotomy () or leucotomy is a discredited form of Neurosurgery, neurosurgical treatment for mental disorder, psychiatric disorder or neurological disorder (e.g. epilepsy, Depression in childhood and adolescence, depression) that involves sev ...

, possibly in order to protect him from the further clutches of the justice system. His central nervous system and intellectual faculties had apparently been damaged by his chronic alcoholism. In 1957 he came under the care of Lilly Wittels, widow of the psychiatrist Fritz Wittels. He visited Vienna in 1960: friends from former times found him utterly transformed and uninterested. In his final years he broke off contact with former friends. In 1972 he was found to be suffering from an advanced case of cancer, and he died on 22 September 1972. Only a few people attended his burial. As Alice Bernoulli wrote in a letter to her friend Salka Viertel on 10 October 1972, "No wonder, that ... most of his old friends found him too dull after his total character change, and left him alone. A sad end. But what a chapter in our lives!!"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendelssohn, Francesco von 1901 births 1972 deaths Musicians from Berlin German gay musicians German classical cellists 20th-century German male actors

Francesco Francesco, the Italian language, Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis (given name), Francis", is one of the List of most popular given names, most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name inclu ...