Salomon Mayer von Rothschild
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
banker in the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
and the founder of the Viennese
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
branch of the prominent Mayer Amschel Rothschild family.
He was born at Frankfurt-am-Main the third child and second son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Mayer Amschel Rothschild was the founder of the Rothschild family international banking dynasty that became the most successful business family in history. In 2005, he was ranked 7th on the Forbes magazine list of "The Twenty Most Influential Businessmen Of All Time"...
(1744–1812) and Gutlé Schnapper (1753–1849). In 1800, he married Caroline Stern (1782–1854). They had the following children:
- Anselm SalomonAnselm von RothschildAnselm Salomon von Rothschild, baron was an Austrian banker, and a member of the Vienna branch of the Rothschild family....
(1803–1874) - Betty Salomon (1805–1886)
His father had built a hugely prosperous banking business in Germany. Wanting to expand the family business across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the eldest Rothschild son remained in Frankfurt, while each of the other four sons were sent to different European cities to establish a banking branch. Salomon von Rothschild was made a shareholder of the de Rothschild Frères bank when it was opened in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1817 by brother James Mayer de Rothschild
James Mayer de Rothschild
James Mayer de Rothschild was a French banker and the original founder of the French branch of the Rothschild family.-Biography:...
. Trained in finance and with years of experience, in 1820 Salomon Rothschild was sent to Austria to formalize the family's existing involvements in financing Austrian government projects.
In Vienna, Salomon von Rothschild established S M von Rothschild
S M von Rothschild
S M von Rothschild was a banking enterprise established in 1820 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary by Salomon Mayer Rothschild, the founder of the Rothschild banking family of Austria and a member of the Mayer Amschel Rothschild family of Frankfurt, Germany. The business prospered, financing various...
. The business financed the Nordbahn
Northern Railway (Austria)
The Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway was the name of a former railway company during the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Its main line was supposed to connect Vienna with salt mines in Bochnia near Kraków...
rail transport
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
network, Austria's first steam railway, plus funding various government undertakings where large amounts of capital had to be raised. He made connections amongst the country's aristocracy and its political elite through Prince Klemens Metternich
Klemens Wenzel von Metternich
Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich was a German-born Austrian politician and statesman and was one of the most important diplomats of his era...
and Friedrich von Gentz
Friedrich von Gentz
Friedrich von Gentz was a German publicist and statesman.-Early years:Gentz was born at Breslau.His father was an official, his mother distantly related to the Prussian minister Friedrich Ancillon...
. Under the direction of Salomon von Rothschild, the Viennese bank was highly successful, playing an integral role in the development of the Austrian economy. In recognition of his services, in 1822 Salomon Mayer Rothschild was made part of the Austrian nobility
Austrian nobility
Historically, the Austrian nobility was a privileged social class in Austria. The nobility was officially abolished in 1919 after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Former noble families and their descendants are still a part of Austrian society today, but they no longer retain any specific...
when Emperor Francis I
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz...
awarded him the hereditary title "Freiherr
Freiherr
The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...
" (Baron). In 1843, he became the first Jew to ever be given honorary Austrian citizenship.
Endogamy
Endogamy
Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class, or social group, rejecting others on such basis as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. A Greek Orthodox Christian endogamist, for example, would require that a marriage be only with another...
was an essential part of the Rothschild family's strategy for future success in order to ensure that control of their businesses remained in family hands. Therefore, in 1824 Salomon Mayer Rothschild's daughter Betty married her uncle James Mayer de Rothschild
James Mayer de Rothschild
James Mayer de Rothschild was a French banker and the original founder of the French branch of the Rothschild family.-Biography:...
, head of the Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
bank.
Salomon von Rothschild's personal wealth was enormous and he acquired extensive properties and made investments in art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
and antiquities. Despite the fact that he made substantial contributions to philanthropic
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
causes, the concentration of vast wealth by the few members of the Austrian elite resulted in a growing civil unrest in the country. By the time of the revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas
Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas
From March 1848 through July 1849, the Habsburg Austrian Empire was threatened by revolutionary movements. Much of the revolutionary activity was of a nationalist character: the empire, ruled from Vienna, included Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians,...
, anti-Rothschild sentiments were frequently being voiced and written about in broadsheets such as Ein offener Brief an Rothschild. With the fall of Metternich, Salomon von Rothschild lost some of his political clout and his bank a considerable amount of money. Under pressure, the 74-year-old handed over the reins of the bank to his son Anselm but it was not without rancor. He left Vienna and retired in Paris where he died in 1855. From his collection some of the Objets d'Art from the Italian
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
and French Renaissance
French Renaissance
French Renaissance is a recent term used to describe a cultural and artistic movement in France from the late 15th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in northern Italy in the fourteenth century...
together with 18th-century works were donated to the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
including two paintings by Carlo Dolci
Carlo Dolci
Carlo Dolci was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Florence, known for highly finished religious pictures, often repeated in many versions.-Biography:...
.