Christopher de Paus

Christopher De Paus

Christopher Tostrup Count (de) Paus (10 September 1862, Christiania, Norway - 10 September 1943, Skodsborg, Denmark), usually known as Christopher Paus, was a Norwegian land owner, heir to the timber giant Tostrup & Mathiesen, papal chamberlain and count, known as philanthropist, art collector and socialite in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He gave large donations to museums in Scandinavia and to the Catholic Church. He was a relative of Henrik Ibsen.

A convert from Lutheranism to Roman Catholicism, he was appointed a Privy Chamberlain of the Sword and Cape (Cameriere Segreto di Spada e Cappa) by Pope Benedict XV in 1922, and was conferred the title of count by Pope Pius XI on 25 May 1923. He bought the estate Narverød near Tønsberg (Norway) in 1892, the estate Trystorp with château in Lekeberg (Sweden) in 1914, and the estate Herresta outside Mariefred (Sweden) in 1923. He lived most of his life in Rome, Sweden and Denmark. Christopher Paus owned the largest collection of Greek and Roman art in Scandinavia, and donated this collection to the National Gallery of Norway in 1918. A member of Paus family, he was the son of Major and War Commissioner Johan Altenborg Paus (1833-1894) og Agnes Tostrup (died 1863). He inherited a fortune from his mother's family, who had been one of the owners of Tostrup & Mathiesen, one of the giants in Norwegian lumber industry in the 19th century. The company had been one of Norway's largest, and eventually established its headquarter in Paris. As his uncles were childless, he was the main heir to his family's shares, which he sold to the Mathiesen family in the 1890s; the company was since renamed Mathiesen Eidsvold Værk. His maternal grandfather had also owned the estate Kjellestad in Stathelle.

The playwright Henrik Ibsen was his father's first cousin. He was the great-grandson of ship-owner and landowner Ole Paus (1776–1855). His grandfather, lawyer and judge Henrik Johan Paus, grew up with his uncle and aunt Johan Andreas Altenburg and Hedvig Paus, Henrik Ibsen's grandparents. As a young man, Christopher Paus would visit the then-famous Henrik Ibsen in Rome, where he lived. His great-grandfather Christian Lintrup was one of the pioneers of the medical profession in Norway.

He was born in Christiania in Norway, and died in Skodsborg in Denmark. It was held a mass for him, as a member of the Papal Court, in the Pope's private chapel on 14 September 1943 with Pope Pius XII in attendance.

His comital title was hereditary (agnatic primogeniture); however, he was childless. He bequeathed much of his estate to his distant relative Herman Paus, who had married Countess Tatyana Tolstoy, a granddaughter of Leo Tolstoy; their descendants still own Herresta and other Swedish estates.