Palais Rothschild

Apart from their sheer size and elegance, they were famous for the huge collections of valuable paintings, statues, furniture, books and armour that they housed, another reflection of the family's vast wealth and prominent position.

The history of these palaces and the art collections they contained is symbolic of the rise and fall of the Austrian branch of the Rothschild family.

Much of the former Rothschild art collection was taken either to the Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM) or to the Austrian Gallery in the Belvedere palace.

In the late 1990s, due to outside pressure from the United States, a more thorough examination of its role and behaviour during the Second World War took place in Austria.

Works from the Rothschild collection that used to be kept at the Kunsthistorisches Museum include:[1] In the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere:

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his gallery in Brussels by David Teniers the Younger
Count Philipp Ludwig Wenzel Sinzendorf by Hyacinthe Rigaud . Given in 1948 by Baronesse Clarisse de Rothschildt in memory of Baron Alphonse de Rothschildt as a "gift"; restituted in 1999 to the Rothschilds; given to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in 1999 by Bettina Loram Rothschild