John Eliot Preaching to the Indians

Felix Octavius Carr Darley

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Darley was one of the most prolific American illustrators of his day. He created illustrations for the works of such authors as Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in addition to depictions of historical events and frontier life, including images of American Indians. In this drawing, Darley’s subject is the Puritan preacher John Eliot (ca. 1604–1690), a missionary who attempted to convert Massachusetts Indians to Christianity and translated the Bible into the local Indian languages. Here the brightly illuminated Eliot makes a gesture of blessing to his audience like John the Baptist in traditional Christian iconography.

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