Arturo López Wilshaw — Wikipedia

Arturo José López Willshaw (Valparaíso, June 20, 1900 -Neuilly-sur-Seine, 17 mars 1962 ) is a patron, a rich Chilean collector, and a personality of the Parisian post-war world.

Arturo López Willshah, southermmme ^{[ first ]} , is the son of Arturo Lopez Perez, a Chilean industrialist who made a fortune in the Guano trade, and his first wife, Sara Willshaw.

He married his cousin Patricia López Huici (1912–2010) ^{[ 2 ]} , although openly homosexual ^{[ 3 ] , [ 4 ]} .

López Willshaw settles in France during the interwar period and becomes an important character at all Paris ^{[ first ]} . At the time, he was attached to the Chile’s Embassy ^{[ 5 ]} .

Rich esthete, it brings together a very beautiful collection of works of art, including a famous collection of goldsmithery partially dispersed by Sotheby’s Monaco, in 1992 ^{[ 6 ]} .

It is also a patron making important donations to the castles of Versailles and Rambouillet ^{[ first ]} (notably from the shelling cottage to the park).

This millionaire shares his life between the Lambert Hotel on Île Saint-Louis, where his companion Alexis de Rédé, the Rodocanachi hotel in Neuilly-sur-Seine (12, rue du Center ^{[ 7 ]} , designed by the Greek heir Paul Rodocanachi from 1899) where he settled in 1928 and gave sumptuous parties ^{[ 8 ]} , and his yacht Seagull , these last two being arranged by the interior architect Georges Geffroy ^{[ 9 ]} . The mansion was bought in 1971 by the municipality, which created a museum and a library there, while the Park of the Property is Loti.

He also lives in the castle of Vosves in Seine-et-Marne.

Roger Peyrefitte said of him: “[This] little Chilean pretentious, was the king of Guano, thanks to the islands he owned on the coasts of Chile. He loved the pomp. He had a magnificent mansion in Neuilly. If he threw the money by the windows, he chose his windows: he helped a lot to restore the Palace of Versailles and responded to the solicitations of his tireless conservative, Gérald Van Der Kemp […]. We all knew that he was homosexual. It was even said that he had married for love for his wife’s brother […]. Van der Kemp wanted to show his gratitude to the patron, making a mass say in his memory, in the royal chapel of Versailles, an initiative which seemed bold to some. At the end of the mass, someone says, “It’s still funny that there was a mass in Versailles for a Jew.” So another turns around and launches: “Do not insult a dead man!” “Jew” was therefore in his mind an insulting term. We cannot pronounce a more unhappy and difier word ” ^{[ ten ]} .

He died the 17 mars 1962 , leaving his companion for twenty years, Alexis Rosenberg, Baron de Rédé, part of his fortune and his collection ^{[ 3 ]} and was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery.

Alexandre Iacovleff made the portrait of Arturo López Willshaw in 1923 ^{[ first ]} . It is sold for 713 250 Books (809,959 euros) by Sotheby’s, London, the November 24, 2008 .

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