William P. Chappel (1801–1878), a tinsmith and amateur painter, depicted scenes of early 19th-century New York City.

This exhibition will feature 27 small oil paintings from The Met collection that were probably executed late in the artist's life.

Chappel's meticulously detailed images of street peddlers, artisan workshops, and swimmers cooling off in the East River—the kinds of commonplace scenes that were seldom documented—provide a rare glimpse of urban life 200 years ago.