James de Rothschild, fifth son of the house of Frankfurt, arrived in Paris in 1811 and set up there the French branch of a family present in five capitals. Under Louis-Philippe, no one was richer than he, save the king. He lent to the states of Europe and won in 1843 the great railway concession of the Nord. Balzac took his features for his Baron de Nucingen.
The story
Jacob Mayer de Rothschild, called James, was born in Frankfurt in 1792, the fifth son of Mayer Amschel. He arrived in Paris in March 1811 and set up there the house of MM. de Rothschild Frères, the French branch of a family network spread across five capitals.
Ennobled by the Emperor of Austria in 1817, he became under the July Monarchy the richest man in France after the king: forty million francs in 1847. He lent to Belgium, to Greece, to Italy, to Spain, to Austria, to the United States.
He was also one of the pioneers of the French railway: the concession of the Chemins de fer du Nord, obtained in 1845, made the bank an industrial power as much as a financial one.
Balzac took him as the model for the baron de Nucingen, the banker of “The Human Comedy” — one of the very few characters in the French novel whose original can be named with that much certainty.
He died in Paris on 15 November 1868, at seventy-six, in the same year as Rossini. The chapel in Division 7 carries an inscription that takes its leave without a trace of modesty: “the name of James de Rothschild will live in the memory of men”.
The grave
A Jewish family chapel, in the part of Division 7 reserved for Jewish burials, whose pediment bears the family monogram: two Rs, one reversed. The inscription is devout and assured: “To the pious and venerated memory of James Mayer, Baron de Rothschild, died in Paris on 15 November 1868, aged 76”, then, to finish, “the name of James de Rothschild will live in the memory of men”. Few epitaphs in the cemetery state their own prophecy so calmly.
On site, do not miss
The monogram on the pediment — two Rs, one of them reversed — and the last line of the inscription, which announces its own posterity.
Visitors' questions
Where is James de Rothschild's grave?
In Division 7, avenue Rachel, first row, in the lower part of the cemetery — the same path as the grave of Camille Pissarro. It is a family chapel in the Jewish section of the cemetery.
Camille PissarroWho was James de Rothschild?
The fifth son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who arrived in Paris in 1811 and founded “MM. de Rothschild Frères” in 1815. Under the July Monarchy he was the richest man in France after the King.
Henri CernuschiWas he the model for Baron de Nucingen?
Yes: Balzac drew on him for the banker of “La Comédie humaine”. He is one of the very few characters in French fiction whose original can be identified with such certainty — and Balzac rests in Division 48.
Honoré de BalzacWhat is carved on the chapel?
A dedication “à la pieuse et vénérée mémoire de James Mayer, baron de Rothschild, décédé à Paris le 15 novembre 1868, à l'âge de 76 ans” — to the pious and revered memory of James Mayer, Baron de Rothschild, who died in Paris on 15 November 1868, aged 76 — and this line: “le nom de James de Rothschild vivra dans la mémoire des hommes” — the name of James de Rothschild will live on in the memory of men.
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