Overview

The period known as the "Gilded Age" took place from the 1870s until the early 1900s during a time of rapid economic growth. Industrialization was at its height and robber barons newly flush with banking, oil, or railroad cash aggressively expanded personal art collections. Further cultural emphasis on the arts was displayed in the publishing of the first art encyclopedia in 1880. The concept of museums also began to spread; both the American Museum of Natural History (1869) and Metropolitan Museum of Art (1870) were founded during this time.

What was trending in the fine arts during the Gilded Age:

• Portraits displayed royal aspirations
• Landscapes + genre paintings depicting ordinary life
• European sculpture + furniture
• Decorative arts from Asia and Egypt

These trends are displayed clearly in select artwork elevated in this collection, having influenced the artists involved.