‘The Commodore’
Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877), originally a New York-based steamboat entrepreneur and then a major developer of the US railroad network. He has been said to have transformed the geography of the United States. As one of the richest Americans in history, Cornelius Vanderbilt was the patriarch of the influential Vanderbilt family. He devoted his latter years to philanthropy but lived relatively modestly, with racehorses as his main indulgence. His descendants held different notions, building the Vanderbilt houses in New York City and Newport RI that characterise the American Gilded Age.
This portrait is on display in the Trophy Room of Marble House, the Newport summer mansion of Alva Vanderbilt.
‘The Commodore’
Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877), originally a New York-based steamboat entrepreneur and then a major developer of the US railroad network. He has been said to have transformed the geography of the United States. As one of the richest Americans in history, Cornelius Vanderbilt was the patriarch of the influential Vanderbilt family. He devoted his latter years to philanthropy but lived relatively modestly, with racehorses as his main indulgence. His descendants held different notions, building the Vanderbilt houses in New York City and Newport RI that characterise the American Gilded Age.
This portrait is on display in the Trophy Room of Marble House, the Newport summer mansion of Alva Vanderbilt.