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R. THORNTON WILSON (1886-1977)

Richard Thornton Wilson was also a frequent donor to the
Metropolitan Museum. Wilson graduated from Law School in
1910 and a year later married Harriette Post, but they divorced
in 1934. In 1942 he married Mrs. Florence Ellsworth Mcfadden
Seidenburg. Wilson came from a prominent banking family on his
father’s side – his father being Marshall Orme Wilson (1860-1926),
while his mother was the daughter of William Backhouse Astor
and the famous socialite Caroline Schemerhorn Astor. His uncle,
John Jacob Astor IV, was believed to have been the wealthiest
passenger to perish on 15 April 1912 when the ‘RMS Titanic’ sank.
Although following their marriage in 1884 the Marshall Orme
Wilsons lived at 414 Fifth Avenue, New York, in 1896 Marshall
Orme Wilson purchased a large plot of land around the corner on
East 64th Street. There an imposing fve-storeyed residence, faced
in Indiana limestone with a mansard roof of blue slate, was built by
William Backhouse Astor, Jr. for his daughter. Astor commissioned
the architects Warren and Wetmore to design the house in about
1900, and it was completed in 1903. Marshall Orme Wilson
died in April 1926 and Caroline Schermerhorn Astor Wilson
lived there alone with her staff until she too died in September
1948. In December of the same year the house was bought by the
government of India. It came to be known as New India House
and is currently the location of the Consulate General of India.

Interestingly several magnifcent late 19th and early 20th century Fig. 6. Richard Thornton Wilson’s mother Caroline “Carrie” Schermerhorn
dresses were given to the Metropolitan Museum by R. Thornton Astor Wilson (1861-1948)
Wilson and his brother Orme Wilson in memory of their mother
Caroline Schermerhorn Astor Wilson (1861-1948) (fg. 6). There
were also a number of donations made to the Metropolitan
Museum and to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston by R. Thornton
Wilson in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s in memory of his second
wife, Florence Ellsworth Wilson, who died in 1943, only a year
after they were married. These donations included ceramics from
Europe and Asia. One of the Chinese ceramic donations made by
R. Thornton Wilson to the Metropolitan Museum was a charming
Kangxi model of a spotted horse in the current sale [Lot 899]. It
may be signifcant that R. Thornton Wilson’s uncle, after whom
he appears to have been named, was prominent in racing circles – a
member of the Saratoga Association for the Improvement of Breed
horses, steward of the Jockey Club and a director of the Winchester
Racing Association. Perhaps this love of horses was passed on to his
nephew.

Lot 899

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