The Beau of the Ball

Charles de Beistegui was an eccentric multi-millionaire art collector and interior decorator and one of the most flamboyant characters of mid-20th century European life, whose passport was Spanish and whose wealth came from his family's Mexican silver mines. The cash reservoir allowed de Beistegui to indulge himself in the homes he decorated, such as his Chateau de Groussay and the 17th century Palace Labia in Venice.

In 1951 Beistegui held a masked costume ball in Venice, which he called Le Bal Oriental. It was one of the last truly spectacular events in that famous palazzo, and it was one of the largest and most lavish social events of the 20th century. The truly upper crust of international society attended in costumes custom made for the event. The host wore scarlet robes and a long curling wig, and his normal height was raised a full 16 inches by platform soles. Cecil Beaton's photographs of the ball display an almost surreal society, reminiscent of Venetian life immediately before the fall of the republic at the end of the 18th century.