The Woman Who Painted the Gilded Age… And Then Vanished
Meet Amalia Kussner: the American miniaturist who moved through palaces, painted princes, and left almost no trace behind. We need your help to find her.
The Woman Nobody Remembers
There is a particular kind of erasure that happens to women in history. Not a dramatic burning of the papers or a deliberate act of censorship – just a slow, quiet disappearing. A name dropped from the guest register. A set of letters that never made it to the archive. A collection of exquisite miniature portraits, scattered to the four corners of the world, gathering dust in houses whose owners have no idea what they own.
That is the story of Amalia Kussner.
I first came across her name while researching my own corner of the Gilded Age, and I’ll admit that when I started digging, I wasn’t prepared for quite how extraordinary she was. Or quite how thoroughly she had been forgotten.
Recently, I sat down with Kathleen Langone – author, podcaster, and the woman who has dedicated years to bringing Amalia back into the light – and what she told me stopped me in my tracks more than once. This article is our beginning. And we are asking for your help.
An American in the Courts of Europe
Amalia Kussner was a miniature portrait painter, American-born, who rose to prominence in the 1890s and painted her way through some of the most storied drawing rooms in the world. The Gilded Age “400” in New York. The Astors. The Vanderbilts. And then, crossing the Atlantic, the British aristocracy at its most dazzling peak – the dollar heiresses who had arrived with their fortunes and were busy remaking themselves as duchesses and countesses.
