The ‘beautiful enigma’

Through an analysis of the art collection and patronage of Margherita Traube Mengarini (1856–1912), a German scientist and woman activist of Jewish origin in Rome, this article explores the dynamics of German–Jewish art collectors’ networks active in Italy from the 1880s to the early 1910s, with a particular focus on women. The collection assembled by Margherita and her husband Guglielmo Mengarini included both antique pieces – discovered during the excavations for the couple’s houses in Rome and in Anzio – and paintings of the family, commissioned from contemporary artists. The article discusses the Traube Mengarini collection in context, by focusing on the artists, collectors and intellectuals in their salon, and by comparing both their collection and networks with those of other Jews of German origin in Rome, men and women.