John Taylor Johnston

Biography

John Taylor Johnston was a passionate advocate for the arts who assembled one of the finest private collections of European painting in mid-19th-century America and lent his vision to the founding of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As its first president, he helped build the institution’s early scholarly foundations and guided its trustees through formative acquisitions.

Committed to public enrichment through visual culture, he valued Green-Wood as a quiet refuge, and his memory endures among the many civic leaders who cherished both beauty and benevolence.