Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza at Villa Favorita

Villa Favorita, Lake Lugano, Switzerland
Photo by Derry Moore for
Architectural Digest

Continuing the series with topics that have a connection to the quintessential Cotswolds house, Daylesford, here is Villa Favorita, the Lugano, Switzerland, residence of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, a one-time owner of Daylesford.  (The Renzo Mongiardino décor for the baron at Daylesford may be seen here). 


A view of Villa Favorita from Lake Lugano.
Photo from Wikimedia.

In 1985,the baron married his fifth wife, Carmen Cervera, a former "Miss Spain" who had been married to Lex Barker of "Tarzan" films, at Daylesford.  At the time of the photography by Derry Moore that appeared in the July, 1988, issue of Architectural Digest the villa was a residence for both, and one of several.  But it was around this time that Daylesford was sold to Carole and Anthony Bamford (see here) as the Cotswolds did not appeal to the Baroness.


Baron and Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza
in a detail from a photo by Derry Moore
published 1988 in AD.

Bonnard's "Portrait de Misia Godebska," 1908, and Toulouse-Lautrec's "Gaston Bonnefoy," 1891, are among the works of art in the pine paneled English Room, one of a series of reception rooms installed by the baron's father.


Another view of the English Room
at Villa Favorita.
Photo by Derry Moore for AD.

"Mademoiselle Duthe" by Fragonard, circa, 1771, hung between the windows of the English Room while a 1730 Meissan monkey by Kirchner joined Ming and Kangxi piece decorating the marble chimneypiece.


The French Room at Villa Favorita.
Photo by Derry Moore for AD.

"La Toillette" by Boucher, 1742.
Now at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.
Image via Wikimedia.

"La Toilette" by Boucher, 1742, hung in the French Room near a Riesener commode with a Clodion figure group.  An eighteenth-century bureau plat may be seen in the mid-point of the image from the 1988 article.


The Bar at Villa Favorita.
Photo by Derry Moore for AD.

A small medieval style room used as a bar is located adjacent to the English Room.  Decorated with 19th century paintings in the form of heraldic wall hangings below a painted frieze of open colonnades with stylized urns of flowers, simple chairs and a 16th-century Italian octagonal table contrast with the curves of the walnut tall-case clock from Amsterdam, circa 1720.


The baron's Study at Villa Favorita.
Photo by Derry Moore for AD.

When he was in residence at the villa, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza spent most of his time in his Study looking over the constant stream of in-coming transparencies and catalogues from art galleries and dealers showing works for sale.  The portrait is of the baron's grandfather August Thyssen; although not a collector, he commissioned a number of sculptures from his friend Auguste Rodin.  Tapestry covered chairs flank a 16th-century French walnut table used as a desk.  An eighteenth-century Pompeian style frieze provides a colorful perimeter above the dark paneling.


The Gothic Room at Villa Favorita.
Photo by Derry Moore for AD.

Linen-fold oak paneling and carved limestone trim decorate the Gothic Room.  "The Annunciation" by Jan de Beer, 16th-century, was paired with Andrea Riccio's terra-cotta "Madonna and Child," circa 1520.  The painting is now at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.


Details of the Master Bedroom at Villa Favorita.
Photo by Derry Moore for AD.

In the Master Bedroom, Manet's "L'Amazone de Face," 1882, and Degas' "Chez la Modiste," 1883 were displayed.  Both "Horsewoman, Full Face" and "At the Milliner's" are now at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.


The baron's Dressing Room at Villa Favorita.
Photo by Derry Moore for AD.

Striped silk wall hangings in the baron's Dressing Room provided a backdrop for Pissarro's "Rue Saint-Honore, Effet de Pluie: Apres-Midi," 1897, and a Louix XVI bureau a Gradin.


The Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza
poses by her bathtub at Villa Favorita.
Photo from Hola magazine.

The swimming pool at Villa Favorita.
Photo from Hola magazine.

In the article by Peter Lauritzen, the baron is quoted, "My father [Henrich] acquired the seventeenth-century Villa Favorita from Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia in 1932, and brought [his collection of] the old-master paintings there.  He had first shown them publicly in Munich only two years before."


Baron Hans Heinrich's father, Heinrich,
in the Gallery at Villa Favorita, 1947.
Photo from ThyssenKrupp AG.

Until his father's death in 1947, the collection was seldom seen by the general public although his father had added a large gallery to Villa Favorita to display the art.  The baron added to the collection, at one time second only to that of the Queen of England.


Baron and Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza
pose on the terrace of Villa Favorita
with Picasso's 1923 "Harlequin with a Mirror"
now at the Museo Thyssen-Borenmisza, Madrid.
Photo from PhotoDigest.be

Starting in 1960, select paintings from the collection were loaned out or travelled in special exhibitions of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection.  In addition, the villa's gallery was open to the public on weekends seven months of the year, and more often when special exhibitions were held at Villa Favorita. 


A composite showing the extent of the addition
proposed by British architect Robert Stirling.
Image via Ticino Tessin, The Swiss Castles blog.

When the design for expansion by British architect Robert Stirling of the firm Stirling & Wilford failed to meet acceptance from local officials, offers from outside the country were considered to provide a home for the stars of the collection so that they could be viewed by larger numbers.  Despite persuasive talks with the Getty Museum in California, and a personal visit by Prince Charles on behalf of British museums, the government of Spain won with the offer of the Villahermosa Palace, to be refurbished to the specifications of the Baroness, opposite the Prado in Madrid.  That is now the location of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, filled mostly with art taken from Villa Favorita, opening in 1992.



A distant view from the lake showing the context.
Image via Ticino Tessin, The Swiss Castles blog.

Another view from the lake showing the
extent of  the shorefront property of Villa Favorita.
Image via Ticino Tessin., The Swiss Castles blog.

The remaining collection at Villa Favorita was reorganized and the gallery was again opened to the public for some years before closing.  Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza died in 2002.  Carmen "Tita" Cervera, as the dowager baroness is now usually referred in the press, opened the Carmen Thyssen Museum in Malaga in 2011.  Her museum contains art from her collection on a long term free loan, with many of the paintings previously displayed at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum during the previous 12 years. That same year of the museum opening in Malaga, she decided to sell "The Lock" by John Constable from her private collection to raise funds; in 2012 it sold for an artist record GBP 22.4 million.  In 2013, Carmen Cervera came into the international spotlight again when it was discovered that she was using a complex offshore structure as a tax haven; her spokesman said it was only used to move art from country to country.



Carmen Cervera, the dowager baroness,
at Villa Favorita.
Photo from Hola magazine.

Carmen Cervera still holds a Swiss passport according to press reports.  As Switzerland does not tax art, it is believed that the villa still holds a significant collection, the primary source of her wealth.

 

This series of posts of The Devoted Classicist with a connection to Daylesford continues with the next essay.