John Haviland

John Neagle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The ingenious British architect John Haviland (1792 - 1852) sat for his contemporary John Neagle, while at work on the building that would make him famous. Haviland's Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia (1823-29), one of the largest architectural projects yet undertaken in the United States, was hailed as revolutionary and epochal. In this portrait, Haviland appears to be checking with calipers his innovative scheme of cells radiating from a central core; his plan would later influence prison design internationally. The watercolor rendering at right shows the neo-Gothic facade of the prison, while the book--a volume of James Stuart and Nicholas Revett's "The Antiquities of Athens" (1762-1816)--betrays his eclectic stylistic interests. Haviland later designed the Hall of Justice in New York (fondly called "The Tombs") and was a founder of the American Institute of Architects.

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