Album of Portraits of Celebrities
c. 1882
Medium
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Accession Number
S/NPG.90.50.Z
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the Gilded Age with *Album of Portraits of Celebrities* (c. 1882), a captivating print compilation by Shoppell, an artist active around this vibrant era. Housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's National Portrait Gallery collection, this work features illustrated likenesses of prominent American figures, including railroad financier Jay Gould—a notorious "robber baron" known for his shrewd maneuvers in expanding rail empires. Tags evoke the period's rugged icons: surveyors, bearded and mustachioed men embodying industrial ambition and frontier spirit. Created as a print mediu...