Helena de Kay Gilder, Rodman de Kay Gilder, c. 1880s | Gilded Age American Portraiture

Artist/Maker: Helena de Kay Gilder (American, 1846–1916)
Medium: Charcoal and pencil on paper and board
Date: circa 1880s
Provenance: From the Gilder–Palmer Family Archive, Four Brooks Farm, South Lee, Massachusetts
Collection: Gilder Palmer Sanctuary Art & Memorabilia Collection

Price: $65,000 USD
Additional Fees May Apply
US Shipping Fees $250  US Export Fee $2,000

Expanded Description with Historical Context

This poignant charcoal portrait, Rodman de Kay Gilder, was drawn by his mother, Helena de Kay Gilder, one of the most accomplished female artists of the late nineteenth century and co-founder of the Art Students League of New York. Executed with a delicacy of line and emotional gravity, the work captures her eldest son Rodman de Kay Gilder (1877–1953) in his youth, his thoughtful expression rendered in soft tonal layers that exemplify Helena’s refined mastery of light and character.

Created at the height of her artistic maturity, this drawing embodies Helena’s gift for uniting intimacy with classical discipline—a quality that earned her admiration from contemporaries such as Cecilia Beaux, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Louis Comfort Tiffany. The portrait’s exceptional preservation and direct descent through the Gilder lineage lend it singular historical importance within both American art and family heritage.

The sketch was preserved for generations at Four Brooks Farm, the Gilder family’s Berkshire retreat that served as a creative gathering place for artists, writers, and reformers of the American Renaissance. Today it stands as a rare surviving example of Helena’s personal work—an intimate depiction of the bond between mother and child within one of America’s most distinguished artistic families.

Historical Significance

Artist: Helena de Kay Gilder (1846–1916), co-founder of the Art Students League and pioneer of American women’s art.

Sitter: Rodman de Kay Gilder (1877–1953), eldest son of Helena and poet Richard Watson Gilder, and later husband of Louise Comfort Tiffany, daughter of Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Provenance: From the Gilder–Palmer Family Archive, Four Brooks Farm, South Lee, Massachusetts.

Medium & Design: Charcoal on paper, archival mount, retaining original family notations on reverse.

Context: An exceptionally rare maternal portrait uniting two major artistic dynasties — the Gilders and the Tiffanys — and an emblem of the creative continuum that defined America’s Gilded Age.