Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Lydig, Rita de Acosta, 1880-1929

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role Collector Patron
dates 1875-1929
city New York City
stateNY
other citiesParis, 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 10/31/2024 13:33:24
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Archives/Repository Collection Title Collection Details
Archives of American Art
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner papers, 1853-1977 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...