Robert Winthrop Chanler, born in 1872 into the Astor family (one of America’s oldest and wealthiest), was a largely self-taught decorative artist, designer, and muralist. He created highly ornamental and decorative designs with sculpted gesso, gilded finishes, and transparent glazes, working with paintings, fresco murals, stained glass windows, and architectural interiors. His elaborate compositions featured fantastical avian, jungle, and aquatic creatures—many of which were overlaid with iridescent metallic finishes—yet his specialty was exotic and brilliantly colored, multi-paneled, lacquered screens.

Robert Winthrop Chanler (1872 - 1930) was an American artist, designer, and muralist. He was featured in the 1913 Armory Show in New York and was one of the most acclaimed American artists in the exhibition. In 1918, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney commissioned Chanler to create a set of seven stained glass windows for her sculpture studio in Greenwich Village. Towards the end of his life, Chanler owned a house in Woodstock, where he exhibited his work in local exhibitions.