Mary Justina de Peyster

George Edwin Bissell

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bissell was commissioned to execute this bust of Mary Justina de Peyster (1802–1821) by her son, John Watts de Peyster. One of many portraits that Bissell undertook for the de Peyster family, it appears to be the only extant likeness of a female family member that the sculptor completed. Bissell apparently carved the marble about 1887 and seems to have had a painted portrait of the long-deceased sitter at his disposal for reference. Bissell’s marble wavers between extremes of rigid neoclassicism and Beaux-Arts naturalism. He clearly delighted in such details as the aquiline nose, beaded hair comb, and corsage of blossoms. The surface is enlivened by the sweeping scrollwork on the rococo-revival cartouche and the curve of the shoulder termination.

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