Manufacturing the Modern Patron in Victorian California

Through the example of Central Pacific Railroad executives, attention is here redirected from the usual art historical protagonists - artistic producers - and narratives of American art are rewritten from the unfamiliar vantage of patrons and collectors. This book addresses not only readers in the art history and visual and material cultures of the United States, but also scholars of patronage studies, American Studies, and the sociology of culture. It tells a story still relevant to this new Gilded Age of the early twenty-first century, in which wealthy collectors dramatically shape contemporary art markets and institutions.