The Art of Wealth: The Huntingtons in the Gilded Age

About this book

The Art of Wealth provides a fresh perspective on the complicated mix of public and private motives and models that characterized art collecting and philanthropy in America in the early twentieth-century. The author focuses on four remarkable individuals: Collis Huntington who started out as a peddler and went on to found a railroad empire; his second wife Arabella a woman of great intelligence and taste; her son Archer who devoted his life to creating and supporting museums; and Colliss nephew Henry E. Huntington who built up an extraordinary foundation and then gave it to the public as an enduring legacy.