The History of the Beginnings of the Metropolitan

Museum of Art

An Episode of New York in the Seventies

By Winifred E. Howe

Extract from her History of The Metropolitan  Museum of Art, 1913.

By the end of the Civil War the time for the estab¬
lishment of a permanent gallery of art in New York had
fully come and the people of culture were united in their
recognition of this fact, though they might differ as to
the practicable means to secure the desired end. For
example, the New York Historical Society wished to
utilize for that purpose the Arsenal in the Park, while
the editor of the Evening Post, on January 17, 1867, in
an article entitled "A Free Gallery for New York,'' laid
the burden of responsibility for such an undertaking
upon the National Academy of Design, then occupying
its Fourth Avenue building.

At this juncture John Jay, a man ceaseless in good
works, best known at this time perhaps by his active
opposition to slavery, gave an address before a company
of Americans at a Fourth of July dinner in Paris in 1866
that was destined to initiate the Museum movement.
The London Times of July 7, 1866, in a letter from
Paris, gives the following pleasing account of this sig¬
nificant occasion:

"The 90th anniversary of the National Independence of
the United States was celebrated on Wednesday at the Pre
Catalan. The fete was organized through the active agency of
some patriotic gentlemen. The usual attractions of the Pre
Catalan were much increased by a generous contribution of
plants and flowers by the Prefect of the Seine from the city
conservatories. Large tents were arranged for the accommoda¬
tion of those present—one for dancing, two for refreshments,
and one as a vestiaire. They were profusely decorated with
American and French flags united in faisceaux, and in the danc¬
ing tent were suspended portraits of Washington and of the
Emperor of the French.    Among the invited guests were Mr.

[316]