Josephine von Wertheimstein was related to the Arnstein family by their common ancestors, the Gomperz family. Her husband, Leopold, was a descendant of Samson Wertheimer-“the prince of the Jews”. He was considered an economic genious and managed the Vienna branch of the Rothschild Bank. Josephine von Wertheimstein brough together, in her villa in Doebling, the most talented people of literary, musical and artistic fields in Vienna. Hugo von Hofmannsthal mentioned her in his early writing as the “old lady in Doebling”. The circle of her friends who came to her afternoon parties and musical evenings included the most famous artists and members of nobility, including Countesses of Salm, Donhoff and Wickenburg- Almassy, the singer Mary Wilt and famed musicians and artists, among them Anton Rubinstein, Leschetitzky, Penter, and Lenbach, as well as writers of the old and new generation, and famous scientists, such as Ernst von Fleischl – one of the first mentors of Sigmund Freud.