Hyde Park
Johann Hermann Carmiencke
1856
This work represents the house at Hyde Park when Frederick Vanderbilt purchased the property in 1895. The house was a gift of John Jacob Astor, Sr. (1763-1848) to his daughter Dorthea Astor Langdon (1795-1874). Dorothea married Walter Langdon, Sr. in 1812. The house passed to her son Walter Langdon, Jr. (1822-1894), from whose estate Vanderbilt purchased the property. Langdon was a distant cousin of his neighbor, young Franklin D. Roosevelt, through the Astor family line. Vanderbilt's architect, Charles McKim, intended to enlarge the house, but it was soon discovered that the structure was in poor condition. The house was razed and McKim designed a new, grand Beaux-Artes style mansion that essentially copied the arrangement of the Langdon house, only at a larger scale.
Johann Hermann Carmiencke was a German artist who served as the court painter to the King of Denmark during the 1840s. He immigrated to America around 1848 and settled in New York. Inspired by the painters of the Hudson River School, he enjoyed painting the scenery around the Catskills and the Adirondacks. Serveral of his works painted at Hyde Park survive in public and private collections.
Oil on canvas. L 44.5, W 65.4 cm
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site, VAMA 5021