Although most biographical sources give B.F. Reinhart's birthplace as near Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, his student record in the NAD school register lists it as Richland, County, Ohio. By 1844, however, he had moved to Pittsburgh to study art. He began painting portraits immediately, traveling to New York several years later. In 1847 he enrolled in the Academy's Antique School and exhibited his first work at an NAD Annual, a portrait of a child. Following his New York study, he returned to Ohio, where he embarked on portrait-painting trips to several western cities.
Reinhart left America in 1850 for three years of European study in Paris, Düsseldorf, and Rome. Once back in the United States, he continued his wanderings, seeking commissions in New York, Ohio, and Louisiana. Beginning in 1861, he spent seven years in England, painting genre scenes and portraits and possibly visiting Egypt. He returned and settled in New York City, although peripatetic painting trips were still not uncommon. Reinhart was producing history and genre paintings, but portraits remained his mainstay. G.W. Sheldon noted the surprising number of his commissions, and chided him for lowering his artistic standards when painting away from urban centers (p. 141). Near the end of his life, Reinhart suffered from prolonged ill health. His nephew, Charles S. Reinhart, became an Academy Associate after his death.