Background
William Henry Rinehart was born on September 13, 1825 on a farm near Union Bridge, Maryland, the fifth of the eight sons of Israel and Mary (Snader) Rinehart. His father was the grandson of Ulrich Rinehart (1704 - 1787), who emigrated from the Palatinate to Philadelphia in 1733 and established himself as a printer in Germantown. Later he settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania, on a three-thousand-acre farm, and opened the first woolen mill in that region. The next two generations were notable for the number of clergymen as well as farmers in the family, and for the generally influential position the members held in their communities. David Rinehart, a son of Ulrich's second wife, and the sculptor's grandfather, moved to Frederick County, Maryland, where his branch of the family established themselves as farmers. David's second son, Israel, married Mary Snader, who was of English and German ancestry. Tradition shows Israel Rinehart to have been a man of stern character, who yet was held in wide respect among his neighbors, and to have attained a high degree of prosperity in the garden section of the state where he lived. His opposition to the artistic career of his son was overcome only after the son had failed as a farmer. Mary Rinehart, on the contrary, seems to have had the sensibility, if not the artistic gifts, of her son. In the light of her tasks as mother of a large family, the nurture of William's genius, we are told, was "her only offering on the altar of what might have been. " Of medium height, graceful, gentle, and poetic, with soft, waving auburn hair, she was adored by her son. After her death he sent for his early clay bust of her, which had first revealed to his family his artistic ability, and "the last cap she wore, " that of the Dunkards. He then made the bust, now in the Peabody Institute, Baltimore, but until his death in his studio in Rome.
Education
His childhood included schooling at "Quaker Hill" near Union Bridge, at that time a log school, at "Priestland, " near Linwood, and finally at Calvert College, New Windsor, scholastically a high school. In all three environments stories are told of his robust love of companionship and of his lack of scholastic aptitudes.
Career
From early years he had aided in the farm work, and when schooling failed to bring results he was put at teaming by his father, being sent to Baltimore each week with the produce of the Rinehart and neighboring farms. These trips ceased when his father found him "wasting his time" modeling a bust of his mother, while the horses were resting with their plough under a nearby tree. Thereupon a position was secured for him as the helper of a stone-worker who was building walls in the neighborhood. When the work proved too heavy for the boy's strength, the first piece of good fortune fell to his lot.
A marble quarry was opened on the Rinehart farm, and the boy was set to polishing and lettering blocks for tombstones, window and door sills, for sale through the neighborhood, thereby gaining, as Lorado Taft observes, wider scope for the development of his talent than was usual for farm boys. At twenty-one he became an apprentice to Baughman & Bevan, the largest stone-cutters in Baltimore. In two years he was foreman, with a studio of his own, and was soon allowed to accept private commissions.
Tradition records how at this time he repaired a mantel in the home of W. T. Walters with such freedom that the interest of this leading merchant and art connoisseur was aroused. Meanwhile he was supplementing his practical training with art courses in the night school of the Maryland Institute, where he received a gold medal in 1851 for a copy in stone of Teniers' "Smokers. "
The earliest publicly exhibited works of which the record remains (1853) were a bust of the Rev. Dr. John G. Morris and a reclining figure, "Faith. " While considerable disagreement in detail arises to annoy the biographer at this point, it seems evident that with the patronage of Walters and other local philanthropists, he set out for Italy in 1855. Presumably, this first European period was centered in Florence, where he maintained himself as stone-cutter, returning with four marble bas-reliefs in 1857.
After a vain attempt to start the practice of his profession in a city where no models were available and where only a few cosmopolitan citizens patronized sculptors, he left Baltimore for Rome in 1858, and kept his studio there for the rest of his life. Walters remained his chief patron throughout his career. The caryatid figures for the clock in the House of Representatives, Washington, represent the occasional commission he received during his short stay in America.
The period of eight years which followed his establishment in Rome as a professional sculptor was a busy one. He first completed the bronze doors for the Capitol at Washington left unfinished by Thomas Crawford, at the request of the latter's widow. Then followed a series of "ideal" subjects of Indian, medieval and classic inspiration, "The Sleeping Children" (a funereal group for the Sisson family lot in Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore), and "Love Reconciled with Death" for the Walters lot, also in Greenmount.
The Walters family were in Paris for some years during this period, and Rinehart spent several short vacations with them. The death of Walters' wife occasioned the last-named commission. A short visit to America in 1866 saw the award of the Taney commission, and the completion of a bust of Walters. Another period of intensive work in Rome followed, lasting for six years and marked by many orders for portrait busts, a profitable but wearisome occupation for one who was eager to do imaginative work. "Latona and Her Children, " in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Taney, and "Clytie, " perhaps his masterpiece, were brought back with him in 1872.
The first and third of these works were in marble, the second in bronze. The Taney was unveiled with elaborate ceremonies at Annapolis, Maryland, before the State House in the same year, while subsequently a replica was presented to Baltimore by Walters and placed in Washington Square. The "Clytie" is owned by the Peabody Institute, the gift of J. W. McCoy, and is to be seen in the reading room.
After a short stay in Baltimore, where he was established once more in a studio, followed by a trip to California, he was off again to Rome.
The remaining six years of his life were marked by the attempt to fulfill more commissions than could be done without undue strain. Busts were dispatched to America as fast as he could cut them, as well as portrait figure compositions and funeral groups, and ideal figures. Perhaps the finest of these last is the "Endymion, " which was cut in marble for W. W. Corcoran of Washington, and a bronze replica of which was subsequently placed over the sculptor's own grave in Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore, by his executors.
In 1874 overwork and an unwise decision to stay in Rome during the summer in order to catch up with his commissions led to an attack of Roman fever, complicated by congestion of the lungs, and resulted in his death on October 28.
Funeral services were held in the Protestant Cemetery at Monte Testaccio, attended by the entire artist colony, and again in Baltimore upon the arrival of the body, January 2, 1875. Contemporary opinion of the sculptor's work is reflected in an obituary notice in the Boston Pilot, a paper usually partial to the works of W. W. Story, where we read: "In his art no American of the present day could compete with him. Inspired by the true spirit of Greek art he conveyed his inspirations into his work and even the very jealous class to which he belonged acknowledged him as first among them. "
Rinehart's will appointed W. T. Walters and B. F. Newcomer executors and directed that the residue of his estate be used for the advancement of art.
Among his patrons not already indicated should be mentioned the Garrett, Newcomer, and Riggs families in Baltimore.
The style of Rinehart's best work is neo-classic, modified by a sensitiveness and refinement which marks it off from the classicism of his older colleagues on the one hand as much as it does from the growing realism of his younger contemporaries on the other. The comparison of Powers' "Greek Slave" and Palmer's "White Captive" with the "Clytie" will make the point clear. Saint-Gaudens knew him when he was at work on the "Latona. "
Homer Saint-Gaudens in his life of his father notes that he mentions Rinehart alone of all the classicists whom he met in his student days in Rome. The younger sculptor remarked the dignity and breadth and power of the composition of "Latona, " qualities not usual in the work of a classicist.
One of the many newcomers befriended by Rinehart, Saint-Gaudens was with him when he died and wrote feelingly of his departure to his chief American patron, L. H. Willard.
Personality
The Rinehart is described by his niece as being of medium height, of compact build, with a fine head covered with brown curly hair. The bright and cheerful disposition of the boy had remained. He was a warm friend and radiated enthusiasm. Elihu Vedder, the painter, knew him in both Florence and Rome and tells of his effervescent spirits, subdued only when his art was involved.
He also speaks of his habit of underrating himself, his sensitiveness in regard to his early struggles, and of his premonition of an early death. "No one ever quarreled with Rinehart, " Vedder adds, "he belongs to the Roman period and formed one of its best features. "
Quotes from others about the person
Lorado Taft says that in his day "he was doing the most beautiful sculpture that any American had yet produced in Italy".
