Chapter Sixteen 
PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 
WHEN FIELD was in London in December, 1872, Junius Mor- 
gan of the well-known American banking family asked him 
to have a look at the Cesnola collection of antiquities from 
Cyprus, which island had not yet been taken over from the 
Turks by the British. These antiquities, which illustrate the 
ancient arts and industries of the eastern Mediterranean, had 
been excavated by General (formerly Count) di Cesnola, 
American consul in Cyprus. They were of great value to stu- 
dents of the history and culture of Phoenician, Cypriote, and 
Greek mythology; in particular, the island had been the site 
of the most famous temple dedicated to Venus, goddess of 
love. 
General di Cesnola offered some of the early relics for sale 
in Paris in 1870, but the full value of the collection was not 
appreciated until he shipped his most important finds to 
London and published an album of photographs. News of 
the collection reached America, and the director of the 
newly-formed Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York 
wrote to Junius Morgan in London asking whether the col- 
lection could not be secured for the United States, where 
classical studies—especially archeology—needed encourage- 
ment. The problem was to find public-spirited Americans 
who would contribute funds to buy the antiquities. Publi- 
city was needed. 
Although Field was not a patron of art, he interested him- 
self in the matter; perhaps the name Cyprus (so like his own) 
attracted him. He looked up General di Cesnola and intro- 
duced him to Gladstone, Lord Granville, Dean Stanley of 
Westminster, and the American minister in London, Charles 
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