Portrait of Henry Thomas Chapman, Jr. / Sold

Portrait of Henry Thomas Chapman, Jr. - Inventory Number: CDV 275 / Sold

One of the original 11 member of the 23rdNew York National Guard.  Chapman was a Captain and Major of the 23rd New York National Guard during the Civil War and then moved to the 56th New York National guard to take the position of Lt. Colonel.  Chapman was a noted art collector from Brooklyn after the War. 

Colonel Henry Thomas Chapman was a prominent member of the New York Stock Exchange, an organizer of the Twenty-third Regiment, a founder of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts-and Sciences, and one of the first art collectors in the United States. Colonel Chapman, succumbed to a complication of diseases at the age of 76.  Married Martha E., had four sons, Henry E., Alfred B., Robert L., and Frederick A., six granddaughters and two grandsons. In 1839, Chapman came to Brooklyn his parents. Colonel Chapman had lived In Brooklyn continuously for a period of seventy-three years. He received his early education from private tutors In the Bousaud Academy on Clinton street. Following this he completed his studies in Europe, where he acquired his discriminating taste for fine arts. Up to the time of the panio of 1857. Mr. Chapman was connected with the firm of Swift, Ransom & Co., bankers. Later he was cashier of the Oriental Bank. Since leaving the banking business he had, up to the time of his death, maintained a brokerage business at his offices, 62 Broadway, Manhattan. In addition to being a founder of the Twenty-third Regiment Itself, Colonel Chapman was responsible for the organization of Company G, of that regiment at the time of the Civil War. During the war he was a major in the Twenty-third, Henry T. Chapman, and later was the colonel of the Fifty sixth Regiment. He afterward received a staff appointment under General John B. Woodward. Together with General Woodward, Colonel Chapman, who had always maintained a great interest in the fine arts, was one of the founders and a trustee of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts' and Sciences, which now occupies the building on Eastern Parkway. All his life Colonel Chapman had made a hobby of the collection of beautiful objects. Paintings, porcelains and bronzes seem to have been his especial Interest. He was one of the first private collectors in this country, his collection at the time of his death numbering about 300 canvases, of which about one-third were by the old masters. Colonel Chapman was an ex-president of the Rembrandt Club and a member of the Oxford and National Arts Clubs and the Society of Old Brooklynites. He was also a member of the Royal Arcanum, and of St. Nicholas Lodge.

Inventory Number: CDV 275 / Sold