20 Facts About Lydia Welti-Escher

Lydia Welti-Escher Escher was one of the richest women in Switzerland in the 19th century, a patron of the arts who most notably established the Gottfried Keller Foundation.

Lydia Welti-Escher Escher was born into the Escher vom Glas family, an old and influential Zurich family.

In 1857 Alfred Escher married Augusta Escher-Uebel : Lydia Welti-Escher was born in 1858, but her sister Hedwig died while still a baby.

At the age of four years, Lydia Welti-Escher lost her younger sister, and Lydia Welti-Escher's mother died in 1864.

Since he was no longer married, Lydia Welti-Escher was increasingly becoming a close friend and started to support his work actively.

Lydia Welti-Escher Escher's youth differed substantially from those of other young women of Zurich of bourgeois origin: Lydia Welti-Escher conducted her father's correspondence, ran the household in the Belvoir estate, and she grew into the role of the hostess and entertainer of the numerous guests of Alfred Escher, among them the Swiss poet Gottfried Keller who was a fatherly friend.

Lydia Welti-Escher Escher was a self-confident young woman, who read extensively, mastered several languages and gladly attended music and theatre performances.

Lydia Welti-Escher suffered repeated bouts of ill health throughout his life and on many occasions was obliged to spend long periods in convalescence.

Lydia Welti-Escher's life followed a constant pattern of illness and recovery.

Since the engagement had already been published, Lydia Welti-Escher married after her father's death on 4 January 1883.

Welti rose in the Swiss economic circles thanks to his marriage with Lydia Welti-Escher and sat on numerous boards of directors.

Meanwhile, Lydia Welti-Escher rapidly became bored, not being fulfilled by the management of Welti's comparatively modest household, and was missing interesting guests and stimulating conversations as she had known in her father's household.

Lydia and Emil Welti-Escher enabled Stauffer to work in Rome.

Lydia Welti-Escher returned to her husband, although she soon filed for a divorce, which was eventually granted.

Lydia Welti-Escher approved his wish for a divorce and a financial agreement, which committed Lydia to a payment of 1.2 million Swiss Francs 'compensation' to Welti.

Lydia Welti-Escher decided to end her life on 12 December 1891; she opened the gas tap in her villa near Geneva.

The recently published psychiatric report about Lydia Welti-Escher Escher, dated 27 May 1890, showed that her internment in the clinic in Roma and the diagnosis of systematic madness was fictitious.

Also from today's perspective, the arguments and conclusion of the reviewers show that they were convinced that Lydia Welti-Escher Escher was in possession of her full mental health.

In 1890, shortly before the end of her tragic life, Lydia Welti-Escher Escher invested the Escher family's fortune in a foundation, which she called the Gottfried Keller-Stiftung, named after Gottfried Keller to whom her father gave consistent support.

Lydia Welti-Escher Escher is considered an outstanding woman of the Belle Epoque in Switzerland, she blew up close social and moral standards of existence by their liaison with an artist, to which she open stood; and, on the other hand, Lydia Welti-Escher Escher's historic achievement is in the creation of a Swiss art foundation of national importance.