Edith Minturn was a Gilded Age society beauty. Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes was a New York architect passionate about preserving the city's past.

When John Singer Sargent accepted the commission to paint their portrait as a wedding present, he perhaps didn't realize how difficult it would prove to be. Capturing Edith Minturn Stokes' strong personality as one of the era's "new woman" resulted in a portrait that in some ways was as scandalous as his famous "Madame X".

Author and Historian Jean Zimmerman joins The Gilded Gentleman to reveal the real story behind this famous portrait, along with just who Newton Phelps Stokes and Edith Minturn really were. The third part of this story is of course Sargent himself who broke new ground and broke a few conventions in portraying "Mr. and Mrs. I.N. Phelps Stokes" as they really were.

This episode was edited by Kieran Gannon

Get your tickets for the Bowery Boys Gilded Age Weekend, featuring Carl Raymond, the Gilded Gentleman -- May 29-June 1

Of all the balls and parties thrown during the Gilded Age, the extravagant evening hosted by Bradley and Cornela Martin at the Waldorf in 1897 was perhaps the most legendary, but also the most filled with misconceptions.

February 10, 2025 was the 128th anniversary of this grand ball that topped them during New York's opulent Gilded Age. To celebrate, we are offering an ENCORE presentation of the episode on the ball with historian and author Rick Hutto whose family is descended from the Bardley Martin's themselves.

Visit the Gilded Gentleman website for an entire list of shows.

This show was edited by Kieran Gannon

Who doesn't like to get a valentine -- perhaps even from a mysterious admirer?

The practice of sending valentines goes back centuries, and these well-designed romantic messages could have many meanings -- highly spiritual, an expression of friendship and love, or even a proposal of marriage.

In this episode Carl is joined by historian and collector Nancy Rosin whose own collection of over 12,000 valentines from the past 400 years has recently been archived at the Huntington Library.

Nancy takes us back to the early Roman days, through the MIddle Ages and into the "golden age" of valentines in the early 19th century and, at last, into the extravagant Gilded Age.

Nancy shares some of the most significant examples from her collection and leads us into very personal worlds of beauty and love from the 17th century to our modern day.

Visit the Gilded Gentleman website for more information

This episode was edited by Kieran Gannon