This 1896 bronze portrait statue of Mayor Abraham De Peyster, in Hanover Square Park, was made by sculptor George Edwin Bissell. In the late 19th century, John Watts De Peyster, Abraham's great-great-great grandson, commissioned this statue. Bissell, whose family ran a marble company in Poughkeepsie, NY, sculpted the piece in his studio in Mount Vernon, NY, and cast the bronze at the E. Gruet foundry in Paris. He depicted De Peyster, sporting a lavish cloak, wig, army boots, and sword in hand, denoting his political and military roles in the Colonial government. The De Peyster sculpture was originally placed in the center of nearby Bowling Green Park in 1896, at a site once occupied by a statue of King George III. Vandalism to the statue prompted the resetting of the sword in 1939 and an overall conservation effort in 1942. In 1972, park and subway renovations at Bowling Green forced removal of the statue. It was relocated four years later on a new pink granite pedestal (on which the original inscriptions were transcribed) in Hanover Square.
George Edwin Bissell
(b. 1839 New Preston, CT – d. Mount Vernon, NY l920)
was the son of a quarryman and marble worker, and eventually became a sculptor. He was educated at Northville, CT, and the Gunnery in Washington, CT.His life was interrupted by the Civil War; he served as a private in the 23rd Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers. After the war, he went back to stonecutting with his family's business in Poughkeepsie, NY. Bissell received his first sculpture commission at age 32, but soon left to study in Paris, Florence and Rome. There were enclaves of American sculptors all through Europe then. He lived in Paris from 1883-1896, returning to America periodically. He had a studio in Florence from 1903-1909. Among his more important works are the Soldiers and Sailors Monument and a statue of Colonel Chatfield (Waterbury, CT); statues of General Gates (Saratoga, NY); Chancellor John Watts in the Trinity churchyard (Trinity Church, NYC); Colonel Abraham de Peyster (Bowling Green, NYC); Abraham Lincoln (Edinburgh, Scotland); Burns and Highland Mary (Ayr, Scotland); Chancellor James Kent (the Congressional Library, Washington, DC) and President Arthur (Madison Square, NYC). He was a member of the National Sculpture Society.
Abraham De Peyster
(b. 1657 New Amsterdam/Manhattan, NY – d. NY 1728)
came from a prosperous mercantile family. In his youth, he spent nine years working on the family farm in the Netherlands before returning in 1684 to New Amsterdam. He climbed the political ladder, occupying almost all of the important Colonial offices, including alderman, mayor, member of the king's council, and acting governor. He was a moderate on the bitter factional disputes of his day. He was mayor of New York from 1691-95. In 1701, he was governor, and was later treasurer of the provinces of New York and New Jersey. He prospered during English rule, even though the Dutch were the majority in New York's poorest districts. De Peyster became one of New Amsterdam's wealthiest merchants.
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1) Federal Hall Map [23]
