Van Rensselaer, Mariana

Van Rensselaer, Mariana (b. Griswold) (1851–1934) art critic; born in New York City. She was educated privately and traveled extensively in Germany. She married (1873), lived in New Brunswick, N.J., and returned to New York City after her husband's death (1884). She published many books on art and architecture, including the first work on a contemporary American architect, Henry Hobson Richardson and His Works (1888). She is primarily known for her scholarly work, History of the City of New York in the Seventeenth Century (2 vols. 1909).