The Winterthur merchants Reinhart played a significant role in the art life of Switzerland and beyond as collectors and patrons. Each of the brothers was a distinctive personality, recognized and acknowledged as such by Rilke. This justifies including their letters to the poet in the present volume. Only in this fourfold dialogue does the breadth of this fourfold friendship fully come to light, making certain biographical details that are by no means unimportant for understanding Rilke's life and writing tangible.