Welti-Escher, Lydia |
| ART PATRON (SWITZERLAND) |
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BORN 10 Jul 1858, Zürich: Enge - DIED 12 Dec 1891, Champel, near Genève CAUSE OF DEATH suicide by gassing GRAVE LOCATION Genève, Genève: Cimetière de Plainpalais, Rue des Rois (E-501) |
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Daughter of railway pioneer Alfed Escher. She married Friedrich-Emil Welti, the son of the powerful statesman Emil Welti. Together with her husband she supported the painter Karl Stauffer-Bern, but in Florence Lydia started an affair with him. This caused a scandal that took Stauffer-Bern to prison and Lydia to a mental institution. In 1890 she divorced her husband and settled at Hampel (near Geneva). With her fortune she founded the Gottfried-Keller Stiftung. Karl Stauffer-Bern killed himself in Florence in 1890 and in 1891, only 33 years old, she did the same at her home by turning on the gas. Related persons • was a friend of Keller, Gottfried |
| Images |
 The grave of Lydia Welti-Escher at the Cimetière de Plainpalais, Genève. Picture by Androom (06 Dec 2007) |
Sources • Lydia Welti-Escher – Wikipedia |
