Join Carl Raymond for his new tour for Bowery Boys Walks called Art of the Guilded Age,

a wide-ranging exploration of late 19th century art in the Metropolitan Museum of Arts American Wing.

As you move through the galleries, you'll trace the styles, artists, architects, sculptors, and painters who define the of the Gilded Age. For more information

and upcoming dates, visit Bowery Boyswalks.com.

Music Hello, this is Carl Raymond, host of the Gilded Gentleman History podcast,

where every two weeks we journey into corners light and dark of America's Guilded Age,

Francis Bellet Puckke and England's late

Victorian and Edwardian eras. Towards the end of the 19th century, a new kind of gentleman

appeared on the social scene. Well, perhaps not so new in fact, but this sort of gentleman

had existed for quite some time. However, in the

years of the Gilded Age, he seemed to gather a social persona and even what we'd call today a brand.

This sort of gentleman became one of modern society's first influencers. He was intellectual,

well-schooled in literature in the arts.

He had a sense for design, was very well-traveled,

and, at least among the sorts of this kind of gentleman that we'll be talking about today,

he was one that other members of society looked to to define style, taste, and elegance.

Above all, he was unmarried.

He was the bachelor.

Men who, for one reason or another, did not choose the path of traditional marriage,

at least by 19th century standards, became social phenomena.

They may or may not have sought relationships with

other men, but a certain group of them all sought to evolve domestic interior design from the

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