The Baptism – Paris 1892 by Julius LeBlanc Stewart (LACMA)

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The Morning Room at Lorillard House (the Breakers) Newport (Redwood Library)

Gertrude Vanderbilt by Madrazo

Maria Louisa Vanderbilt by Porter (Biltmore)

Rev. Samuel Cooke, Rector of St. Bartholomew’s (Geneva Hist Soc)

Portrait of Dr. Kohne by Raimundo Madrazo (Buenos Aires Museum)

Inscription – Sunday 11 AM and Stewart Note (LACMA, National Archives)

LACMA Field Trip

Included in this post are pictures to support Gerald’s museum talk.

In this episode of GetPublished! we take you on a field trip to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art – LACMA. It’s behind the scenes at an after-hours closed session of the American Art Council. Gerald is giving a talk on the scandal behind Julius Stewart’s painting The Baptism, which is the basis for his sixth novel, Bonfire of the Vanderbilts.

These pictures are also in the book. Gerald gives the presentation as he stands in front of the painting in the museum. He explains:

Now, why am I taking you here? One of our mantras on GetPublished! Radio is that no one is stopping you. I don’t have a degree in art history – I’m just an enthusiastic researcher. But if I had waited for scholars in this field to bless my results or for a mainstream publisher to vet the project – it probably would never have happened. But as it was, I self-published in paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

As you listen, realize that even now the museum doesn’t necessarily agree with all my findings. But they were impressed enough to invite me to speak behind closed doors to this influential group.