The Marquis de Lafayette

Rembrandt Peale

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834), is most vividly remembered for the role he played in the American Revolution. For his service, he was awarded membership in the Society of the Cincinnati. He returned to the United States in 1784, when he was honored by his former war associates and was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by Harvard University. An invitation from Congress and President James Monroe brought him to the United States again in 1824, and for more than a year his triumphal tour provoked public demonstrations such as no American hero had ever experienced. Peale's portrait was apparently painted from life in 1825 at the height of Lafayette's fame. The porthole format and piercing heroic gaze are hallmarks of Peale's style and appear as well in his many depictions of George Washington.

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