Artist of the day: Artist of the day, May 15: Samuel Morse, American painter and inventor (#691)

Monday, May 13, 2019

Artist of the day, May 15: Samuel Morse, American painter and inventor (#691)

Samuel Finley Breese Morse, (1791 –1872) was an American painter and inventor. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs. He was a co-developer of Morse code and helped to develop the commercial use of telegraphy.

Morse expressed some of his Calvinist beliefs in his painting, Landing of the Pilgrims, through the depiction of simple clothing as well as the people's austere facial features. His image captured the psychology of the Federalists

Allston arranged—with Morse's father—a three-year stay for painting study in England. In England, Morse perfected his painting techniques under Allston's watchful eye.

During Morse's time in Britain, the Americans and British were engaged in the War of 1812. Both societies were conflicted over loyalties. Anti-Federalist Americans aligned themselves with the French, abhorred the British, and believed a strong central government to be inherently dangerous to democracy.

The decade 1815–1825 marked significant growth in Morse's work, as he sought to capture the essence of America's culture and life. He painted the Federalist former President John Adams (1816). The Federalists and Anti-Federalists clashed over Dartmouth College. Morse painted portraits of Francis Brown—the college's president—and Judge Woodward, who was involved in bringing the Dartmouth case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Morse maintained a studio at 94 Tradd St., Charleston, South Carolina, for a short period. He sought commissions among the elite of Charleston. Morse's 1818 painting of Mrs. Emma Quash symbolized the opulence of Charleston.

Although Samuel Morse respected his father's religious opinions, he sympathized with the Unitarians. Among the converts to Unitarianism were the prominent Pickerings of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, whom Morse had painted. Some critics thought his sympathies represented his own anti-Federalism. Morse was commissioned to paint President James Monroe in 1820. He embodied Jeffersonian democracy by favoring the common man over the aristocrat.

In 1826, he helped found the National Academy of Design in New York City. He served as the Academy's President from 1826 to 1845 and again from 1861 to 1862.