Portrait of a Gentleman

Moses B. Russell

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1934 the Anderson Galleries, New York City, sold this miniature alone, without a mate, as a portrait of John Hunt. Four years later this portrait and (68.222.33) were identified in the Erskine Hewitt Collection at the Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York City, as Mr. and Mrs. Jason David Battles. Based upon a sale record at Parke-Bernet in 1944 the sitters were said to be Mr. and Mrs. James David Botter. In fact, the sitters have not been firmly identified, and the paintings do not appear to be a pair.

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