John Singer Sargent's Mrs. Louis E. Raphael
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Mrs. Louis E. Raphael 
(nee Henriette Goldshmidt) 
c 1905 
Montgomery Musuem of  Fine Arts  
Montgomery, AL 
Oil on canvas 
59" x 39 "
 Jpg: Trey Smedley  / local

(Click on image to Step Closer)

From: Theodore Frangulescu 
<theo  do re.frang ulescu@ams.com> 
 
in two letters 
Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2002 & Thu, 31 Jan 2002   
  
My wife is the great granddaughter of Mrs. Louis E. Raphael (Henriette Goldschmidt)  . . . a bit about [her]. And by the way, the family name is pronounced "ray-ful". Don't ask why. They were all eccentrics I guess!  
    
The Raphaels were, and still are, the proprietors of a bank and brokerage house in London dating back to the 18th century. They were a prominent and wealthy family, second only to the Rothschilds at the time. Henriette married one of the many Raphael men involved in the business. Interestingly, Sargent also painted the portrait of 2 other Raphael wives.Mrs. Ernest G. Raphael While the Smithsonian has these catalogued as well, I have never seen pictures of them, nor do I know their whereabouts. Likely, they are still in the family somewhere. Louis and Henriette had 2 sons. One of which, named Stephen, is my wife's grandfather. Her father is named Stephen and, you guessed it, our son is also named Stephen. My wife's grandfather was the last of his line to be involved in the family business. Unfortunately, while I can bore you with details about the family tree, I can't offer much information on Henriette herself. 

My wife and I are hoping to track down some information on the othe 2 Raphael Sargents. If we do I'll be glad to pass that along. 

Thanks, 

From: Natasha 

Thank you and please keep me posted. This is wonderful. 

From: Sheila Maister 
<she ila.ma  ister@kcl.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 

I am researching a member of the Raphael family, Henriette Raphael, who was married to the uncle of Lewis Raphael,  whose wife's portrait was painted by Sargent [this painting above] (both women were named Henriette) .  You mentioned in the notes three portraits of Raphael wives; what is the third?

I am in touch with Danielle Frangulescu (Theodore's wife) who is coming to London in November to visit the building where I work, which is named after her great-great aunt by marriage.

I hope this is not too confusing.  I really like your website!

From: Theodore Frangulescu
<theo d  ore.frangulescu@ams.com> 
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002

Here is a list of the 3 Sargent portraits

  1. Mrs. Louis E. Raphael (Henriette Goldschmidt) - online (Above), 
  2. Mrs. Ernest G. Raphael (Flora Cecilia Sassoon) - online 
  3. Mrs. William G. Raphael (Margherita Goldsmid) - yet to be seen 
One point of confusion is that both Louis and his uncle's wives were named Henriette. The elder Henriette is the one for whom the King's College building is named.
 

Note: 

Special thanks to Trey Smedley, a friend of the JSS Gallery, for sending me this image; and Wim Meijer for additional factual info. 

 
 
 

 

By:  Natasha Wallace
Copyright 1998-2005 all rights reserved
Created 3/27/2001