Medium/Discipline: Sculpture
Birthplace: Union Bridge, Maryland
Place of Death: Florence?
Maryland Affiliation: Born here, Depicts Maryland subjects, Active while in residence
Prominent Theme: Portrait busts; Allegory; Myth
Style/Period: Neo-Classical
Places of Residence: Florence 1856-7?
Gender: Male
Race/Ethnicity: White
Biography: Maryland's most prominent Neo-Classical sculptor, William Henry Rinehart began his career working in the stone-yard of Baughman and Bevan on the site of what is now The Peabody Institute, Baltimore. In 1856-7, William Thompson Walters, founder of the Walters Art Gallery (now Museum), sponsored Rinehart's opening career with financial support for the sculptor's study in Florence, which made him a part of the second generation of American sculptors to study and work in Italy. After his initial study there, he returned to Baltimore for one year and then returned to Italy where he settled permamently. Rinehart's Italian studio was visited frequently by American artists traveling in Europe. Americans continued to supply him with a steady supply of commissions, especially for portrait busts that he executed in an idealized style. William T. Walters commissioned a number of works from Rinehart. Rinehart was on exceptionally close terms with Ellen Walters and the Walters children, and completed a portrait bust of Mrs. W. T. Walters in 1862 which is now a part of the Walters Art Museum collection. Walters also commissioned Rinehart to create an allegorical memorial, after his wife's death of pneumonia while on a European tour, for the Walters family tomb. The full-scale plaster model for the sculpture is also at The Walters Art Museum. Other successful commissions included tomb memorials for children; Rinehart handled this sensitive matter by depicting two children sleeping peacefully. Rinehart was commissioned for at least 25 other replicas of the original sculpture in plaster or marble.Because of the unique opportunities he was afforded early in his fine-art training by the patronage of William T. Walters and his study at The Maryland Institute, Rinehart left his estate in trust for the education of sculpture there; today the Maryland Institute College of Art Rinehart School of Sculpture is one of the most renowned in the country. At his death, pallbearers included William T. Walters and artist friends Frank B. Mayer, Andrew J. H. Way and Arthur Quartley.
Education/Training: night classes at Maryland Institute in sculpture, 1846-53
Art-related Employment: sculptor
Other Employment: stonecutter
Selected References: Dean, Mary A. [et al.] 350 Years of Art & Architecture in Maryland (College Park : Art Gallery, and Gallery of the School of Architecture, University of Maryland), 1984.
King, Edward S. and Cross, Marvin C., Catalogue of the American Works of Art (Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery), 1956.
Ross, Marvin Chauncey and Rutledge, Anna Wells. Catalogue of the Works of William Henry Rinehart, Maryland Sculptor, 1825-1875 (Baltimore, 1948).
Maryland Institutions Holding Artworks: Baltimore Museum of Art; Maryland State Archives; Walters Art Museum
Single-Artist Exhibitions: Maryland Historical Society, 1853
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