Jacob Rothschild, a leading figure in the British art world as patron, collector, and leader of institutions including the National Gallery, National Lottery Heritage Fund and Waddesdon Manor, in Buckinghamshire, has died, aged 87.
In a statement, the Rothschild Foundation said that it was “sad to announce the death of its Chairman, Lord Rothschild, businessman, entrepreneur, philanthropist and cultural leader, who made a profound difference to many areas of British life.”
“He supported many causes, some close to his home in Buckinghamshire, others as far afield as Israel, Albania, Greece and the United States. He was committed to helping communities, the environment, education and above all, the arts. Jacob Rothschild was an extraordinary person, and his loss will be felt by many. The family is committed to continuing his legacy and the foundation which he loved and endowed. His daughter Hannah assumes the role of Chair of the Rothschild Foundation.”
City grandee
Rothschild enjoyed an early career as an investment banker in the City of London that was impressive even by the standards of the famous banking dynasty from which he came. In the 19th century there were family branches, in London, Paris, Vienna, and Frankfurt, each producing great collectors, philanthropists and between them building some 40 grand country houses, including a group of them—Mentmore, Ascott, Waddeson—in the Buckinghamshire countryside northwest of London. Jacob’s great grandfather, Nathaniel Rothschild, was raised to the peerage in 1881 as the first Baron Rothschild.
Jacob left the London bank, NM Rothschild, after falling out spectacularly and famously in the 1970s with his cousin Evelyn de Rothschild—Andrew Knight of The Economist described it, “the most notorious bank-family split in City of London history”—over the future of the bank and the use of the Rothschild name. The two men had long been reconciled before Evelyn’s death in 2022; united by the family’s long-standing tradition of philanthropy. One such project among many was the new Evelina Hospital for children, in London, part of the St Thomas’s Hospital complex on the south bank of the river Thames, which opened in 2005. The building cost £60m—with £50m provided by the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, and £10m from the NHS. Its state-of-the-art equipment was funded by the £10m Evelina Children’s Hospital Appeal. Jacob and his cousin Evelyn both gave substantially to the appeal.
Transformative chairman of the National Trust
Rothschild had a profound influence on the National Gallery, in London, in his time as chairman of its trustees. He took up the role in 1985, the year after the then Prince of Wales had denounced the winning design for an extension to the gallery, by the British practice Ahrends, Burton and Koralek (ABK), as a “monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend”; after which, following months of public debate, the Government-backed proposal was refused planning permission.
The question of finding an alternative to the rejected plan was answered by a plan made by Rothschild and the three Sainsbury brothers, John, Timothy and Simon, heirs to Britain’s then leading supermarket chain. It was announced in April 1985 that the Sainsbury brothers would personally fund the extension, to a new design, at an estimated cost of £33m. This offer came after years of controversy over how the National Gallery, chronically short of exhibition space, should be extended into an area to the west of the main building, the Hampton Site, which had been used as a car park for the previous 40 years.
The Sainsbury wing was duly opened in July 1991 by Queen Elizabeth II, with a beaming Rothschild—who with his late wife Serena Dunn was a friend of both the late Queen and of King Charles III—and the Sainsbury brothers attending the monarch as she inspected the new building, designed by Denise Scott-Brown and Robert Venturi. The Sainsbury Wing is at present being remodelled and modernised, with a reopening planned for spring 2025, as part of the gallery’s bicentennial celebrations.
The gallery’s director, Gabriele Finaldi, remembered Rothschild as “Brilliant, knowledgeable and refined”, saying that he had “an ability to make things happen and to bring people and institutions with him. The National Gallery transformations in the late 1980s and early 1990s were, in large measure, due to his energy and vision.”
Cultural heritage
Rothschild cared for Waddesdon Manor, in Buckinghamshire—a spectacular 19th-century Rothschild mansion given by the family to the National Trust but leased back by the Rothschild Foundation, and where a loan exhibition, King David and the Wise Women: Guercino at Waddesdon, is due to open on 20 March, featuring Guercino’s Moses (around 1618-19), recently acquired by the foundation. He was also noted for taking a lease in 1985 of Spencer House, in Mayfair, central London, which had been let as offices for many years, from the Spencer family, and restoring its famous interiors by Athenian Stuart to their former glory.
Rothschild’s children issued a statement following his death: “Our father Jacob was a towering presence in many peoples’ lives—a superbly accomplished financier, a champion of the arts and culture, a devoted public servant, a passionate supporter of charitable causes in the UK, Europe and Israel and of Jewish culture, a keen environmentalist and much loved friend, father and grandfather. He will be buried in accordance with Jewish custom in a small family ceremony and there will be a memorial at a later date to celebrate his life.”
Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild; born 29 April 1936; chairman of trustees, National Gallery, London 1985-91; succeeded 1990 as 4th Baron Rothschild; OM 2002; married 1961 Serena Dunn (died 2019; three daughters, one son); died Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, 26 February 2024.
