Peter Marié

Peter Marié (c. 1826 – January 13, 1903) was an American socialite, philanthropist, and collector of rare books and miniatures from New York City. He commissioned nearly 300 miniature portraits of Gilded Age socialites.

Peter Marié
Bornc. 1826
France
DiedJanuary 13, 1903(1903-01-13) (aged 76–77)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Parent(s)John Baptiste Marié
Leontine Arnaud

Early life

Peter Marié was born in France in 1826.[1] He was the fourth son in a family of nine children born to John Baptiste Marié (d. 1835), a ship merchant who traded with Mexico,[1] and Leontine (née Arnaud) Marié,[2] who married in 1811.[3] Among his many siblings was eldest brother, Camille Marié (father of Elizabeth La Montagne Pendleton), Joseph Marié, the Vicomtesse de Bermingham, and another sister who married Ferdinand Thieriot of Leipzig, whose father had been Chamberlain to the King of Saxony.[1]

His maternal grandparents were General Joseph Louis Arnaud, a French planter and from Santo Domingo (now known as Haiti), and his American wife, Mary (née Nicholson) Arnaud.[1][3][4] His paternal grandfather was a merchant from Cap Français, also in Santo Domingo.[1] His grandfather was assassinated during a native uprising in Santo Domingo, at which point his grandmother brought Peter's mother and two aunts to New York City.[3] His paternal grandfather was maître de port (harbour master) in Cap-Francais in the French West Indies who died in 1792 from an accidental drowning.[1]

Career
Miniature portrait of Antoinette Polk, Baroness de Charette, done by Katherine Arthur Behenna, now kept at the New York Historical Society.

Marié worked for his father and as a banker until his retirement in 1865 at the end of the American Civil War.[1][5] Upon his retirement, Marié, "a man of cultivated tastes who inherited a sufficient fortune to indulge them at a comparatively early age," became a socialite in New York.[6]

Miniature portraits

Marié commissioned up to 300 miniature portraits of female socialites, many by Fernand Paillet, of the Gilded Age.[1][7][8] These included Edith Minturn Stokes, Hope Goddard Iselin, Emeline Winthrop, Emily Post, Frances Cleveland, Maude Adams, Anna Hall Roosevelt, and many others.[7][9][10] A collector of rare books,[11] he also self-published Book of Beauty, a book featuring some miniatures of Gilded Age socialites.[5] He was also a composer of vers de société.[5]

He intended to leave his collection of miniatures to the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, but his offer was turned down in February 1903.[12] However, his collection was acquired by the New-York Historical Society in 1905.[13] More recently, it was exhibited at the New-York Historical Society from November 11, 2011, to September 9, 2012.[7]

Personal life

According to his obituary in The New York Times, "It was the custom for men to marry young in the antebellum days, and Mr. Marié was one of the very few bachelors in town, who, although most gallant and most devoted to the fair sex, was content with his own lot, and who lived in a house of his own and entertained as a bachelor host."[1] He hosted many society dinners from his residence at 48 West 19th Street and, later at, 6 East 37th Street in Manhattan[1] and summered in Bar Harbor, Maine, and Newport, Rhode Island.[5][14]

He died on January 13, 1903, at his residence, 6 East 37th Street, in Manhattan.[1][8] His funeral took place at St. Patrick's Cathedral and he was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens.[1] Marié's estate at the time of his death was valued at $1,568,201.[15]

Society life

In February 1892, Marié was included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.[16][17] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.[18]

He first joined the Union Club of the City of New York, a private members' club in Manhattan, as early as 1854.[19] He subsequently joined the Knickerbocker Club, the Grolier Club, the City Club of New York, the Tuxedo Club, and the Gridiron Club.[1][5] Additionally, he was a member of the American Geographical Society, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the American Fine Arts Society.[1][5] He made charitable contributions to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Academy of Design and the American Museum of Natural History.[1] He served as the Vice President of the New York Institute for the Blind.[1] He also donated to Catholic outreach to the poor in New York City, but did not publicize his goodwill.[5]

References
  1. "DEATH OF PETER MARIE. Long a Social Leader in New York and an Old School Gallant. His Notable Collections of Rare Books and Miniatures of the Beauties of His Generation" (PDF). The New York Times. January 14, 1903. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  2. Historical Records and Studies. 1900. p. 455. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  3. "Mrs. Jean Baptiste Marie (ca. 1795-after 1844)". New-York Historical Society Museum & Library. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 2 August 2015. Léontine Arnaud, the mother of Peter Marié, was the youngest daughter of General Joseph Louis Arnaud, a planter of Santo Domingo, and Mary (Nicholson) Arnaud. After her father's assassination during a native uprising, her mother brought the subject and her two sisters to New York. She married Jean Baptiste Marié in 1811.
  4. Prominent Families of New York, New York: The Historical Company, 1897, p. 395
  5. "Beau Marie, Beau First, Financier Next, Dead: Loved Every Debutante of the Last Forty Years". The Washington Times. 14 January 1903. p. 45. Retrieved July 5, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  6. "THE MARIE COLLECTIONS. Sales of the Library and Porcelains, the Engravings and Miniatures of Peter Marie — Illuminated MSS, and Rare Editions" (PDF). The New York Times. April 2, 1903. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  7. Beauties of the Gilded Age: Peter Marié's Miniatures of Society Women, New York Historical Society, November 11, 2011-September 09, 2012
  8. "Famous Beau Is Dead". The Saint Paul Globe. 17 January 1903. p. 45. Retrieved July 5, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  9. Emma Mustich, Hot chicks of the Gilded Age?, Salon, November 5, 2011
  10. Catalogue of the Gallery of Art of the New York Historical Society, 1915, pp. 121-138, via Project Gutenberg
  11. "MARIE BOOK SALE" (PDF). The New York Times. April 7, 1903. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  12. MARIE MINIATURES REJECTED.; Metropolitan Museum of Art Declines to Accept the Collection of Pictures of New York Women., The New York Times, February 26, 1903
  13. "Peter Marie Miniatures Accepted". The New York Times. 24 February 1905. p. 45. Retrieved July 5, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  14. "Bar Harbor Social Notes". The New York Times. 15 August 1897. p. 45. Retrieved July 5, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  15. "Estate of Peter Marie" (PDF). The New York Times. 30 August 1903. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  16. McAllister, Ward (16 February 1892). "THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED | WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  17. Patterson, Jerry E. (2000). The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age. Random House Incorporated. p. 218. ISBN 9780847822089. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  18. Keister, Lisa A. (2005). Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way. Cambridge University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780521536677. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  19. "About Clubmen". The New York Times. 10 August 1902. p. 45. Retrieved July 5, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. open access
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