Peter Marié

Peter Marié (c. 1825-1903) 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 was born circa 1825. His father, John Baptiste Marié, was a ship merchant who traded with Mexico. His mother, Leontine Arnaud, was the daughter of General Joseph Louis Arnaud, a French planter from Santo Domingo (now known as Haiti), and his American wife, née Mary Nicholson. His paternal grandfather was a merchant from Cap Français, also in Santo Domingo. He had many siblings, including Joseph Marié.

Marié worked for his father and as a banker until he retired in 1865, at the end of the American Civil War.

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

A confirmed bachelor, Marié became a socialite upon retiring in 1865. From his residence at 6 East 37th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, he hosted many society dinners. He summered in Bar Harbor, Maine and Newport, Rhode Island.

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

He was collector of rare books. Additionally, he commissioned up to 300 miniature portraits of female socialites of the Gilded Age. These included Edith Minturn Stokes, Hope Goddard Iselin, Emeline Winthrop, Emily Post, Frances Cleveland, Maude Adams, Anna Hall Roosevelt, etc.

He self-published Book of Beauty, a book of some miniatures of Gilded Age socialites. He was also a composer of vers de société.

He died on January 13, 1903 at later residence at 6 East 37th Street in Manhattan. His funeral took place at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

His collection of miniatures was turned down by the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in February 1903. However, it was acquired by the New-York Historical Society in 1905. More recently, it was exhibited at the New-York Historical Society from November 11, 2011 to September 9, 2012.