Castelli, Leo
(04 September 1907–21 August 1999)
- N. Elizabeth Schlatter
Extract
Castelli, Leo (04 September 1907–21 August 1999), art dealer, was born Leo Krauss in Trieste, then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the son of Ernest Krauss, a Hungarian-born banker, and Bianca Castelli Krauss. Following World War I and the annexation of Trieste by Italy, the Krausses changed their last name to Bianca's family name, Castelli. After receiving a law degree at the University of Milan in 1924, Leo Castelli worked at an insurance company in his hometown. In 1932 he transferred to Bucharest, Romania, where he met and wed Ileana Schapira, daughter of a wealthy industrialist. The offer of a banking job in the mid-1930s took Castelli and his wife to Paris, where they met architect and decorator René Drouin....
