Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Lydig, Rita de Acosta, 1880-1929 print view role Collector Patron dates 1875-1929 city New York City state NY other cities Paris, France; London, United Kingdom; sex F historical notes Rita Lydig, née Rita Hernandez de Alba de Acosta, was an art collector, patron, socialite and philanthropist. Lydig was photographed, sculpted, and painted by artists such as Edward Steichen, Augustus Rodin, and John Singer Sargent. Counted among her friends were Edgar Degas, August Rodin, Leo Tolstoy, Sarah Bernhardt, Ethel Barrymore, and Claude Debussy among her friends. Lydig’s collection included paintings, tapestries (Flemish and Burgundian), bronzes, majolica, French Limoges reliquary, German Crucifix, faience, sarcophagi, European and Asian porcelains. The collection included work by or attributed to, among others, Sandro Botticelli, Sano di Pietro, Neroccio Di Bartolomeo, Mattea di Giovanni, Alonso Sánchez Coello, Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, Matteo di Giovanni, Tintoretto, Antonio Moro, Alonso Sanchez, and Mazo, Mino da Fiesole, Giovanna da Bologna, Putti, and Andrea Riccio. A catalog of her collection was cataloged by Wilhelm R. Valentiner with the assistance of Durr Friedley and was auctioned off in 1913 via the American Art association (selling for $362,555). Lydig's sister, Mercedes de Acosta, gave Rita de Acosta's collection of clothes and shoes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. updated 03/22/2024 12:09:32 bibliographic search Search Frick Art Reference Library Catalog Search Photoarchive Search Worldcat Search Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) Search Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) Search Wikidata Entry Archives/Repository Collection Title Collection Details Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200 Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner papers, 1860-1974. see details... Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division 101 Independence Ave. SE Portrait--Mrs. Philip Lydig / by Gertrude Käsebier. see details... Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division 101 Independence Ave. SE Portrait photograph of Mrs. Rita Lydig see details... Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division 101 Independence Ave. SE [Rita de Acosta Lydig, half-length portrait, facing front] see details... «  back