Rhinelander, F(rederick) W(illiam). American, 1828-1904. HILL GATE. Drawing, pencil on paper, 1841. Ttiled and signed, and dated in pencil, lower left. 10 3/4 x 15 1/2 inches. A 1/2 inch tear at the top edge, far from the image, else in very good condition. F. W. Rhinelander was a prominent New York socialite and businessman. He was a founding Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and served as its President from 1892 until his death in 1904. Edith Wharton was his niece. This work is from his youth, but very subtle and sensitive, and indicative of the competency in drawing that amateurs achieved in the 18th and 19th Centuries because it was part of the education of the monied and cultured classes. Rhinelander's father died in 1836, at the age of only forty, leaving a widow and four young children. For many years the family spent much of its time at the home of Mrs. Rhinelander's father, General Ebenezer Stevens in Astoria, New York. The house overlooked the Hell Gate.
