Art Collecting by the Galician Jewish Aristocracy: From Majer Jerachmiel von Mises to Artur Lilien-Brzozdowiecki

This article discusses the construction of a Jewish aristocratic identity through art collecting and patronage, in parallel with other “aristocratic” activities and lifestyles. The focus is a particular Galican family ennobled by Franz Joseph I in 1881. The family’s ambitions and achievements are known from a memoir by Artur Lilien-Brzozdowiecki (1890, Lviv-1958, London), who was a great-great-grandson of the community head Rachmiel von Mises (1800-1891), a distant cousin of the artist Moses Ephraim Lilien (1874-1925), and a grandson of the banker Ignacy Lilien, who financed Moses Ephraim’s education. The article considers the self-construction of the family members as art connoisseurs and artists. These included the banker, industrialist, artist, and art collector Maurycy Nierenstein (1840-1917); painter Helene von Mises (1883-1942); architect Marya Lilien (1900-1998); and economist, lawyer, army officer, and collector Artur Lilien-Brzozdowiecki.