Michael Friedsam

Col. Michael Friedsam (1860–1931) was an American philanthropist of New York City. 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 his estate valued at $20 million ($ million in ) to charities and public bequests. A large part of his collection was bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (then valued at $2.5 million; $ million in ), and another part to the Brooklyn Museum of Art (then valued at $130,000). Today the Brooklyn museum would like to divest some of the works but are restricted by the bequest.

The list of paintings from the MET bequest still in the collection are: