Early American Painting

Samuel F. B. Morse (1791–1872)
Gallery of the Louvre, 1831–33
Oil on canvas, 73 3/4 x 108 in. (187.3 x 274.3 cm). Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.51

Object - Samuel Morse, Gallery of the Louvre

Besides being the inventor of the electromagnetic telegraph, Samuel F. B. Morse had a distinguished career as a painter and art educator in New York in the early and mid-nineteenth century. While serving as the first president of the National Academy of Design, then America’s foremost art school and exhibition venue, Morse traveled to Europe to study masterpieces. In Paris, he began his most ambitious painting, Gallery of the Louvre, a visual guide to the highlights of Europe’s premier art collection, and a painted treatise on artistic training. He intended the painting to inform Americans about Europe’s artistic heritage and to inspire them to build on its legacy as they developed the young nation’s cultural identity. Morse completed the painting in New York in 1833, but its public reception was discouraging. Today, however, Gallery of the Louvre is recognized as a key work in the development of American art.

Learn more about this painting on the Terra Foundation website. This work is also part of the interactive ArtNav platform. Click on the image above to discover more.


Early American Painting

John Lewis Krimmel (1786–1821)
Blind Man's Buff, 1814
Oil on canvas, 16 5/8 x 22 1/16 in. (42.2 x 56.0 cm). Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1999.82
John Singleton Copley (1738–1815)
Portrait of Mrs. John Stevens (Judith Sargent, later Mrs. John Murray), 1770–72
Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 in. (127.0 x 101.6 cm). Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund, 2000.6
Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860)
George Washington, Porthole Portrait, after 1824
Oil on canvas, 36 1/4 x 29 3/16 in. (92.1 x 74.1 cm). Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.53
Edward Hicks (1780–1849)
A Peaceable Kingdom with Quakers Bearing Banners, c. 1829–1830
Oil on canvas, 17 5/8 x 23 5/8 in. (44.8 x 60.0 cm) . Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1993.7
Ammi Phillips (1788–1865)
Girl in a Red Dress, c. 1835
Oil on canvas, 32 3/8 x 27 3/8 in. (82.2 x 69.5 cm). Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.57
Erastus Salisbury Field (1805–1900)
Portrait of a Woman said to be Clarissa Gallond Cook, in front of a Cityscape, c. 1838
Oil on canvas, 34 3/4 x 28 3/8 in. (88.3 x 72.1 cm). Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund, 2000.4
Samuel F. B. Morse (1791–1872)
Gallery of the Louvre, 1831–33
Oil on canvas, 73 3/4 x 108 in. (187.3 x 274.3 cm). Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.51
Washington Allston (1779–1843)
Lorenzo and Jessica, 1832
Oil on artist's board, 15 x 18 in. (38.1 x 45.7 cm). Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund, 2000.3
Jonathan Adams Bartlett (1817–1902)
Portrait of Harriet, c. 1840
Oil on canvas, 28 1/4 x 23 13/16 in. (71.8 x 60.5 cm). Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.14
Thomas Sully (1783–1872)
Portrait of Blanch Sully, 1839
Oil on paperboard, 24 x 20 in. (61.0 x 50.8 cm). Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund, 2000.2