The Contest for the Bouquet: The Family of Robert Gordon in Their New York Dining-Room

Seymour Joseph Guy

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

English-born artist Guy settled in New York City in 1854. In this lively domestic scene, commissioned by the financier Robert Gordon, three children vie for a small corsage while a fourth seeks comfort in her mother’s lap. A founding trustee of The Met, Gordon collected American paintings, including contemporary landscapes, which he displayed in the dining room of his home at 7 West 33rd Street, depicted here. The furnishings conform to the fashionable Renaissance Revival style. The elaborately carved sideboard resembles an example by Alexander Roux on display in this gallery.

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