Col. Michael Friedsam (1860–1931) was an American philanthropist of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Friedsam was the former president of B. Altman and Company and one of the premier art collectors in America at that time. The Friedsam residence located at 44 East 68th Street was built in 1921. The five-story building fashioned in limestone was designed by Frederick Frost, with wrought ironwork by Samuel Yellin. Friedsam's collection contained numerous masterpieces by artists such as Vermeer, Rembrandt, Jan Van Eyck, and Botticelli. After Friedsam's death in 1931, the residence became a top-rated Catholic high school for girls, Dominican Academy. Many of the original architectural elements, including carved marble fireplaces, stained glass windows, and ornate woodwork, are still in place today creating a unique environment for learning. Friedsam never married and left a fortune to the city of New York. A large part of his collection was bequeathed to the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, and another part to the

Brooklyn Museum of Art The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Cro ...

. Today the Brooklyn museum would like to divest some of the works but are restricted by the bequest.Man who gave Brooklyn Museum restricted gifts in 1930s leaves no heirs, so Surrogate Court to decide outcome
article in Brooklyn Eagle The list of paintings from the MET bequest still in the collection are:

References

1932 article
about Friedsam on website of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency {{DEFAULTSORT:Friedsam, Michael 1860 births 1931 deaths American art collectors Businesspeople from New York City People associated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art