Photo © Image courtesy of the Terra Foundation for American Art
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Photo © Image courtesy of the Terra Foundation for American Art
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Gallery Text

Between 1831 and 1832, artist, educator, and inventor Samuel F.B. Morse, along with a close circle of family and friends living in Paris, regularly visited the Louvre to copy works of art. The practice of copying venerated paintings to align eye, hand, and mind in intellectual and kinetic response has been part of academic training of artists for centuries. For Morse’s circle, observing persons of varying nationalities and social classes engaging in aesthetic discussions and experiences together was as educational as perfecting formal techniques of composition.

For this audacious ars pictura, or painting about painting, Morse represents 38 European works he believed offered instructive examples for an American audience. Though they were spread throughout the Louvre in Morse’s time, he presents them here as hanging together in the iconic Salon Carré, the gallery associated with the annual Salon.

This painting is on loan from the Terra Foundation for American Art, as part of its Terra Collection-in-Residence initiative. From 2023 to

2027, the Harvard Art Museums are participating in the initiative, which involves loans of significant works of art and related programming.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
TL42458.4
People
Samuel Finley Breese Morse, American (Charlestown, MA 1791 - 1872 New York, NY)
Title
Gallery of the Louvre
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1831-1833
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/377174

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2220, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, Rococo and Neoclassicism in the Eighteenth Century
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
187.3 × 274.3 cm (73 3/4 × 108 in.)
Frame: 225.4 × 312.4 cm (88 3/4 × 123 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: lower center: SFBM / 1833

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection
Object Number
TL42458.4
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2220 18th-19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, 02/03/2024 - 01/01/2050
  • 32Q: 2210 West Arcade, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/06/2023 - 02/03/2025

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu