Mrs. Marinus Willett and Her Son Marinus, Jr.

John Vanderlyn

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The earliest American painter to train in Paris, John Vanderlyn learned well the lessons of French neo-classical painting and executed the finest portraits of his career just after his return home to New York. The commission to paint Margaret Bancker (1774-1867) and her toddler son probably came through Vanderlyn's patron, the statesman Aaron Burr, who was friendly with her husband, Colonel Marinus Willett (1740–1830; 17.87.1). Miss Bancker was Willett's third wife and the boy, named for his father, was born in 1801, the first of their five children. Vanderlyn's fascination with France can also be witnessed in his "Panorama of the Palace and Gardens of Versailles," also in the Museum's collection (52.184).

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