George Washington Wurts

George Washington Wurts (March 26, 1843 in Philadelphia – January 25, 1928 in Rome)[1] was an American diplomat and art collector.

[2] William Wurts, who with his brothers Maurice, Charles and John founded the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, left a significant inheritance to his children on his death in 1858.

[1] From 1864 to 1865, Wurts served in Madrid, Spain before being transferred to Turin, Italy[1] where he became an assistant to George Perkins Marsh.

Marsh, the first United States minister to the Kingdom of Italy, found the young Wurts to be "cultivated, hard-working, descreet, intensely loyal".

[3] In 1869, Wurts moved to Florence, Italy[1] and became the Secretary of Legation, a position which he held even after Marsh's departure in 1881 when he was 81 years old.