Anselm Salomon von Rothschild, baron was an Austrian banker, founder of the Creditanstalt, and a member of the Vienna branch of the Rothschild family.
Background
He was born in the Imperial City of Frankfurt, the son of Freiherr Salomon Mayer von Rothschild (1774–1855), ancestor of the family"s Austrian branch, and his wife Caroline Stern (1782–1854). Anselm Salomon did so in 1826 by marrying Charlotte Nathan Rothschild (1807–1859), daughter of his uncle Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777–1836) from the London branch of the family. Together they had eight children:.
Career
Mayer Anselm Leon (1827–1828)
Caroline Julie Anselm (1830–1907), "Julie", married Adolph Carl von Rothschild (1823–1900), son of Carl Mayer von Rothschild at Naples, lived at Rothschild Castle in Pregny-Chambésy near Geneva
Mathilde Hannah von Rothschild (1832–1924), married Freiherr Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild (1828–1901), banker at Frankfurt
Sarah Luisa (1834–1924), married Baron Raimondo Franchetti (1829–1905), lived at Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti in Venice
Nathaniel Anselm (1836–1905), maecenas at Vienna
Ferdinand James (1839–1898), moved to the United Kingdom, had Waddesdon Manor built from 1874
Albert Salomon (1844–1911), took over the running of the family"s Viennese bank
In 1820 Anselm Salomon"s father Salomon Mayer had established a bank company at Vienna, financing the building of the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway in the 1830s. He had been a confident of Chancellor Prince Klemens von Metternich and also a discreet lender of the Bohemian and Hungarian nobility. privilegierte Österreichische Cr-Anstalt für Handel und Gewerbe, which evolved to the largest bank of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Anselm himself gradually retired from the banking business in the 1860s and participated in the Austrian Southern Railway company.
He rejected the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and refused to accommodate any side with money.
As a philanthropist, he founded the Vienna Rothschild Hospital in 1869. He died in Vienna. The Holy Thorn Reliquary was one of his purchases.
His collection was catalogued and partly photographed by the art historian Franz Schestag in 1866 and 1872.
Membership
He was also a prominent art collector, honorary citizen, and an appointed member of the Austrian House of Lords from 1861.