Mackinac parks purchase two historic paintings
Mackinac State Historic Parks announced the purchase of two portraits depicting former commandant at Fort Michilimackinac and his wife on Tuesday.
According to a news release from the West Michigan Tourist Association, the 1790s portraits of Arent and Rebecca DePeyster were purchased from Bellmans Fine Art Auctioneers, a London-based company.
DePeyster served at Fort Michilimackinac on the Straits of Mackinac from 1774 until 1779, said MLive. He later served as a commandant in Detroit.
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The staff of Mackinac State Historic Parks were informed of the portraits in recent decades and thought it would be a great addition to their collection.
They were alerted to the auction by historian and author Brian Dunnigan and the DePeyster portraits were purchased for $47,000. They were purchased through the Martin and Patricia Jahn Collections Development Fund.
The portraits will be on display at The Richard & Jane Manoogian Mackinac Art Museum this summer beginning May 12.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mackinaw parks purchase historic DePeyster portraits
