Catherine, Baroness d'Erlanger

Baroness Marie Rose Antoinette Catherine de Robert d'Aqueria de Rochegude d'Erlanger (1874–1959) was a patron of the arts, supporting artists such as the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Cecil Beaton, Romaine Brooks, Philip de László and Sergei Diaghilev. She was known as "The Flame" (La Fiamma) for her hair color. She was widely known as Kate d'Erlanger. Biography Marie Rose Antoinette Catherine de Robert d'Aqueria de Rochegude was the daughter of the Marquis d'Aqueria de Rochegude, a landowner and shipowner in Le Havre. In 1895 she married Baron Emile Beaumont d'Erlanger and they had four children: Robert "Robin" Emile Frédéric Regis d'Erlanger (1896–1934), Mary Liliane Matilda "Baba", Baroness d'Erlanger (1901–1945), Gerard John Regis Leo, Baron d'Erlanger (1905–1962), and Bianca, Baroness d'Erlanger. Her granddaughter, Minnie Caroline d'Erlanger, daughter of Gerard, married Winston Churchill (1940–2010), the grandson of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. When in London, the d'Erlanger lived at 139 Piccadilly, Lord Byron's former home. D'Erlanger established a famous salon and was one of the most important society hostesses of her time. When in Italy, they stayed at Villa Foscari (or Villa La Malcontenta) which her father-in-law had leased and renovated, and which she purchased in 1926, together with her friends Alberto Clinton Landsberg and Paul Rodocanachi. Bertie Landsberg, issue of an originally Jewish banking family, as the Erlangers, fled the Italian Fascists in 1939 and only returned to the villa in 1947.