Samuel F. B. Morse

American, 1791 - 1872

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American inventor and painter (1791–1872)

Explore Selected Works

Samuel F. B. Morse, The Pescatory, 1834, graphite and red colored pencil on wove paper, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase), 2015.19.969

The Pescatory

Samuel F. B. Morse · 1834 · graphite and red colored pencil on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2015.19.969

Samuel F. B. Morse, Lydia Coit Terry (Mrs. Eliphalet Terry), c. 1824, oil on canvas, Gift of Dr. Charles Terry Butler, 1981.46.2

Lydia Coit Terry (Mrs. Eliphalet Terry)

Samuel F. B. Morse · c. 1824 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1981.46.2

Samuel F. B. Morse, Eliphalet Terry, c. 1824, oil on canvas, Gift of Dr. Charles Terry Butler, 1981.46.1

Eliphalet Terry

Samuel F. B. Morse · c. 1824 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1981.46.1

We look across a cavernous room with a half-domed ceiling where more than a hundred men are gathered at desks and theater-like boxes in this horizontal painting. Almost all of the men have pale, peachy skin and wear black suits with white high-pointed collars. The desks curve in a half-circle facing our left, where two candelabras sit on a dais, a canopied space with polished columns. Seven more columns lining the rounded space are also speckled with fawn brown, bronze, copper, and muted moss green. They have white capitals carved with leaves ands scrolls. Crimson-red curtains hung between the columns have been gathered up along their centers so they drape down to each side. The space is lit by a three-tiered chandelier near the center of the composition. The chandelier has been lowered and a man, backlit in silhouette, stands on a ladder and reaches for a light on the top tier. The other men sit singly or in groups at the desks or gather in small groups throughout the space. The D-shaped rows of desks are enclosed within a curving, waist-high wall. To our right, on our side of the wall, a pair of boys or men lean over an open box that is lit inside. A few people look on from a second-level balcony to our right. This includes a trio of men all wearing black. In the next bay, a man with medium-brown skin wears Pawnee attire with a tall headdress, necklaces, and what seems to be a fur-lined cloak. He looks out at us. A clock on the wall near him reads 6:14. The domed space has nested, ivory-white square or octagonal panels within gold borders. At the center of each panel is a six-petaled, gold flower. The artist signed the work as if he had written his name and date on the base of the wall to our left: “S.F.B. MORSE pinx 1822.”
Samuel F. B. Morse, The House of Representatives, 1822, probably reworked 1823, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund), 2014.79.27

The House of Representatives

Samuel F. B. Morse · 1822, probably reworked 1823 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.79.27

Samuel F. B. Morse, Joseph Gales, 1821/1822, oil on wood, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund), 2014.136.72

Joseph Gales

Samuel F. B. Morse · 1821/1822 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  2014.136.72

Bibliography

1875

  • Prime, Samuel I. Life of Samuel F. B. Morse. New York, 1875.

1954

  • Larkin, Oliver W. Samuel F. B. Morse and American Democratic Art. Boston, 1954.

1988

  • Kloss, William. Samuel F. B. Morse. New York, 1988.

1989

  • Staiti, Paul J. Samuel F. B. Morse. New York, 1989.

1998

  • Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 14-15.