Museum Collections
Luce Center
View of Clermont, Seat of Mrs. Livingston, Tivoli, New York
Watermark: "J WHATMAN / 1794"; inscribed at lower center outside image in black ink: "Clermont the Seat of Mrs. Livingston"; at lower right outside image: "14. September 1796."
Alexander Robertson drew this view of Livingston’s estate, Clermont, when he traveled the Hudson River between Albany and New York City in 1796. The original Clermont, erected about 1730 by Lord Robert Livingston and named for the ‘clear mountain’ view of the Catskills across the Hudson River, was destroyed by the British in 1777. The home was rebuilt under the supervision of Margaret Livingston (1724-1800), the Chancellor’s mother, in 1793. At Clermont, Robert R. Livingston was free to pursue his intellectual and agricultural interests.