Mayer Amschel Returning the Inventory of the Elector of Hesse (oil on canvas)

Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812) founder of the Rothschild family banking dynasty; Crown Prince Wilhelm of Hesse (1743-1821) (later Wilhelm IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel). The Elector's lands were annexed by Napoleon in 1806, but much of his wealth was smuggled out of the electorate and his assets were successfully managed and invested by the Rothschilds to their mutual advantage and eventually safely restored to him. In this miniature, the Elector is seen welcomed to the Rothschilds' family home in the Judengasse, Frankfurt, by Amschel Mayer de Rothschild, the oldest of the five Rothschild brothers, as the Elector's goods are restored to him by the family. On the left, Nathan, James and Salomon Rothschild are in attendance, with, lower left, Carl kneeling next to a chest from which he is removing valuables. The female figure in the background on the right is Guthe Rothschild, mother to the Rothschild brothers.