Consuelo Crespi Collection

From the extraordinary collection of the late Countess Consuelo Crespi: 20th Century design by John Vesey and Howard Dilday.  The works are offered alongside decorative objects and smaller pieces of furniture from September 29, 2011.

The Crespis commissioned the pieces from Vesey and Dilday, two American designers, for their apartment at the Palazzo Odescalchi in Rome, designed by Renzo Mongiardino in the 1960’s.  Some of the resulting works traveled with them when they moved from Italy to New York in the 1970’s, eventually residing in an apartment designed by Mark Hampton.

Consuelo Crespi was a tastemaker and style icon who, from an early modeling career, went on to be Italian editor of Vogue under Diana Vreeland.  Together with her husband, PR titan Rudi, she was instrumental in promoting Italian fashion designers and in doing so became a social and fashion luminary herself.  In a succession of glamorous palazzo apartments in post-war Rome, the Crespis played host to the most glittering international set of dignitaries, socialites, and Hollywood stars.