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Samuel F.B. Morse
Contadina at the Shrine of the Madonna, ca 1830
Best known for his 1838 invention of the electromagnetic telegraph and its signaling code, Samuel Morse began his wide-ranging career as an important figure in the New York art world. A successful portrait painter and administrator, he served from 1826 to 1845 as the founding president of the National Academy of Design, New York's leading artist-run organization.
Morse, who had studied in England under Benjamin West, did not visit Italy until 1830 during a European trip financed by patrons. In the company of Virginia artist John Gadsby Chapman, he traveled first to Tivoli and the Sabine Hills, outside of Rome. Morse and Chapman were among the earliest Americans to paint the picturesque hill towns, long popular with European artists. In addition, Morse may have been the first to focus on a scene from daily life – a Catholic villager worshipping at a roadside shrine – which became a popular subject with American artists (who were largely Protestant) in subsequent decades. |