Colonel de Heer Abraham de Peyster

George Edwin Bissell

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1893 John Watts de Peyster commissioned Bissell to execute a seated bronze portrait of his great-great-great grandfather, Colonel de Heer Abraham de Peyster (1657–1728). The statue was planned to commemorate the achievements of one of New York’s first leading citizens, who dedicated his life to public service, most notably as mayor of the city between 1691 and 1695 and as treasurer of the province from 1706 to 1721. The overlifesize statue was erected in 1896 in Bowling Green. In 1972, when this area of lower Manhattan was redesigned, the sculpture was moved to its present location in Hanover Square. Like the monument, the Metropolitan’s statuette shows de Peyster sitting forward, attired in period dress and a wig with tumbling, shoulder-length curls. Bissell, who trained in Paris, borrowed from the past in the distinct resemblance of the pose to Michelangelo’s Moses (1513-16) in Rome’s San Pietro in Vincoli. Bissell referred to the statuette version as a study for the monument, and differences in positioning of the figure and some of the accessories bear out this statement.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art