Art and Science: Samuel F.B. Morse

this episode of the history guys brought to you by Masterworks [Music] you've likely heard of Samuel F B Morse for his invention of the electronic Telegraph but what you might not know is that Samuel Morse was also an artist in fact one of the best and most prolific portrait artists in American history in one of the nation's leading historic artists he was instrumental in founding an American School of Art and perhaps even more interesting is the unique set of circumstances that moved him from art to science the history of the man who has been described as America's Leonardo deserves to be remembered remember where you were the last time this guy fell picture this September 15 2008 Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy and the global economy grinds to a halt that same day English artist Damien Hurst auctions up 56 pieces of art grossing over 200 million dollars in 24 hours and the difference is striking and this fall history seems to be repeating itself the stock market is having its worst year in decades but on November 10th parts of tech Mogul Paul Allen's art collection sold for a collective one and a half billion dollars the global Rich still view Masterpiece art as a hedge against inflation and perhaps a safer store of value than increasingly volatile stocks and cryptocurrencies but we're not Tech billionaires so how do we use R to protect our own wealth with Masterworks Masterworks lets you invest in museum grade artwork for a fraction of the cost Picasso Banksy Monet you don't have to be a curator to know these names Masterworks last three sales have delivered 17 21 and 33 net returns to their investors the Paul Allen sale is predictably turning heads so there is a wait list but history guy subscribers can get Priority Access just click the link in the description on May 24th 1844 the world's first commercial Telegraph line strung between the United States capital in Baltimore was demonstrated to members of the United States Congress the first word sent were taken from the Bible Book of Numbers Chapter 23 verse 23. what hath God wrought those words were transcribed via something called Morse code and were sent by the eponymous inventor of the code Samuel F B Morse morse's message which had been suggested to my Morse by Annie Ellsworth the daughter of the U.S Commissioner of patents were apt within a decade more than 20 000 miles of telegraph lines across the United States transforming Commerce culture politics and the Very nature of the world Morris's message is seen by many to have signaled the beginning of the electronic age the wired Telegraph would lead directly to wireless telegraphy the radio the relay one of morse's greatest contributions to wireless telegraphy directly led to the invention of the audion tube and that to the transistor the technologies that Define the digital Edge today all tracked back to that 1844 message and it's hard to imagine any person living at the time who wouldn't look at how morse's invention has transformed the world now and not Echo the sentiment what hath God wrought but the stories of course far more complex than that numerous other inventors claim credit for the electronic Telegraph and morse's two most significant technical contributions the relay and Morse code were developed with the assistance of others New York University chemist Leonard Gale in the case of the relay and mechanical engineer Alfred Vale who received the famous message in Baltimore for the code Morris would spend decades defending patents and trying to secure his legacy as the inventor of the electromagnetic Telegraph complaining in 1848 about being constantly under the necessity of watching the movements of the most unprincipled set of pirates I've ever known in the defense of his claim as sole inventor because of course don't all good stories involve Pirates but maybe even more interesting than his contribution to the electronic age is the story of how it might all have gone differently Samuel Morris was 41 years old before he was first struck with the inspiration for his machine which occurred on a ship from Europe back to the United States in 1832. at the time he was already nationally famous but not as an inventor as an artist and that Fame might have distracted him from ever turning his attention to the invention for which he is so famous today in his 1943 work the American Leonardo a life of Samuel F B Morse author Carlton maybe wrote the life of Samuel Morris is one of the most interesting in American history a life fascinating partly because of the versatility of his undertakings partly because of the rich interests of his mind and character born in Charlestown Massachusetts in 1791 Samuel Morse was son of Jedediah Morris an author of the first textbook on U.S geography earning him the sober K the father of American geography and Elizabeth Ian Finley Brees the FB of Samuel F B Moore stands for Finley Breeze Jedediah was also a calvinist minister and prominent supporter of the Federalist Party Samuel was educated at Phillips Academy in Andover and Yale University his father wanted him to be a minister and he studied religious philosophy but also mathematics and science but much to his father Chagrin his first interest was art he started painting portraits while at Yale and after embarked upon a remarkable course of study and artistic career Professor Paul stashy of Mount Holyoke College wrote in a 1981 edition of Delaware's winter thur Museum's Winterthur portfolio in a remarkable sequence of events beginning in 1810 young Samuel F B Morse opened a decade of dramatic artistic Evolution that took him from primitive domestic portraiture to the Grandeur of the academic history painting at the Royal Academy and on to the aristocratic milieu of elegant portraiture stashy notes that Morse was influenced by important American artists such as Gilbert Stewart and Benjamin West but the central catalytic figure in his early career was his closest friend and teacher Washington Alston while Mercer's early works showed Talent it was under alston's tutelage that he studied art academically practicing drawing studying art history and Anatomy he traveled with Alston to London where his talent gained him entry to the Royal Academy Art School his work matured in London and he particularly saw himself as having studied the grand style of History painting stashy writes that he saw his future artistic role in America as an evangelist of culture his historical paintings would be appreciated he believed because it would tend to elevate and refine the public feeling on that count he struggled the website of the Library of Congress writes returning home in 1815 Morris hoped to translate his foreign success into domestic achievement and this he was disappointed the problem was not a lack of talent for Moore showed great promise as a painter but probably the fact that he offered Americans Grand paintings with historical themes when all he's paying patrons really wanted were portraits of themselves still his portrait work was exceptional the Encyclopedia Britannica notes he began as an itinerant painter in New England New York and South Carolina after 1825 on settling in New York City he painted some of the finest portraits ever done by an American Artist he combined technical competence in a bold rendering of his subject's character with a touch of the Romanticism he had imbibed in England among his famous portraits were an 1816 painting a former President John Adams now on display at the Brooklyn Museum he found success but a general financial crisis brought on by the so-called panic of 1819 reduced his commissions still in 1820 he received a commission to paint then President James Monroe which is now on display at the White House Blue Room and the National Gallery of Art notes in 1824 he won the most prestigious Commission of the decade to paint the full-length portrait of the Maki de Lafayette when the French hero was on his triumphal tour of America that painting is now in the New York City Hall portrait collection but beyond his portraiture he produced two astounding Works painted between 1822 and 1823 the House of Representatives includes portraits of over 80 people the National Gallery of Art explains arriving in Washington DC in November 1820 Morris worked 14 hours a day for four months in a temporary Studio adjacent to the house chamber which recently had been rebuilt after the capital was destroyed by fire during the war of 1812. his massive canvas included careful renderings of architecture and people including congressmen staff Supreme Court Justices and press in a time when the nation did not have established art galleries morse's plan was to take the work on tour charging admission but while the painting received widespread a claim it did not excite the public unfortunately he overestimated the sophistication of his audience the website of the Cochrane Gallery of Art explains choosing to ignore the conventions of History painting he focused on the essentially abstract nature of democracy in action rather than on a specific dramatic moment such as a victory in battle too subtle for public taste the House of Representatives was a financial failure that painting now hangs in the National Gallery of Art still his Fame allowed Morris to have a significant impact on Art in America the National Gallery of Art notes an educated eloquent and tireless Crusader on behalf of artists rights in 1826 Morse used his new Prestige to lead a group of young artists who seceded from the more abound American Academy of Art and founded the progressive National Academy of Design he served as his first president until 1845. the foundation of this new organization which was dedicated primarily to art instruction led directly to an efflorescence of American art and a new generation of painters and sculptors made their debuts at its annual exhibitions in 1826 Morse delivered a series of four important lectures at the New York athenium in which he argued for the advancement of Art in American society Morse attempted another grand project in 1831. the gallery of Louvre was an extraordinary work the Reynolda House gallery of Winston-Salem Massachusetts writes Morse spent months Walking The Halls of the museum selecting old Master paintings for his composition then painstakingly copying the paintings and installed them in the virtual Gallery the resulting Monumental canvas six feet by nine feet was both an example of morse's erudition and skill and a tool of instruction for American viewers who did not have access to Renaissance and Baroque paintings the website artfix daily observes Morse paints himself in the center tutoring a young student as she works on her own copy of one of the masterpieces before her but he also included a new friend that he met while in Paris artfix daily continues morse's friend author James Fenimore Cooper can be glimpsed with his wife and daughter in the left corner but again the work was not a financial success the National Gallery rights despite its favorable reception among the Intelligentsia the painting failed before the General Public Samuel Morse was one of the best regarded painters of his time and nationally well known as president of the National Academy of Design he had great influence on both the art world of his time and the future of Art in America and yet his artwork was barely paying the bills and he lived in near poverty but he had an ambitious plan construction of the huge domed rotunda that links the two chambers of the United States capital began in 1818 and was completed in 1824 in time for the visit of the Marquis De Lafayette the portrait of whom had been an important commission for morse inside the Rotunda are works that represent American history four of these were commissioned in 1817 from artist John Trumbull and they are among the nation's most well-recognized historical paintings but the design of the Rotunda left four more spaces available the Library of Congress writes that in 1834 still trying to succeed as an artist he formulated an ambitious plan to paint Grand historical scenes on the four remaining blank panels in the Rotunda of the national capital in Washington such a commission would not only have cemented morse's reputation but also his Financial Security Congress rejected the plan Morrison accepted an appointment as professor of literature and arts and design in the newly created University of the city of New York by then the idea of a single line telegraph was already percolating in his prodigious intellect on the sea Voyage back from Europe with the gallery of the Louvre he befriended a physician and scientist named Charles Thomas Jackson Jackson was schooled in electromagnetism and showed Morse experiments with an electromagnet there Morse developed his idea for the single wire electromagnetic Telegraph it would eventually be awarded seven U.S patents related to The Invention Improvement of the telegraph but his work experimenting on the telegraph actually concerned his art friends maybe notes rumors of the Mysteries practice in the University Building were spreading when at Clinton Hall the president walked among his National Academy students putting out defects in their drawings they would lament behind his back that one so gifted should be spending his time in futile experiments even his friends whispered what a miserable delusion had seized him Uptown in Washington Square the University students shook their heads ominously one of the best artists in the country they said was sacrificing his genius to a chimera that is the man who is now recognized as the father of the electronic age was disappointing the American art community with his science and the path to the Future was not yet secure while Morris's Grant plan to have a commission for the four remaining spots in the Rotunda had failed Congress still planned to commission art for those spots in 1837 Congress seated a joint committee to commission for artists to complete the Declaration of the Rotunda Samuel Moore said every reason to expect that he would be among them he was one of the few American painters trained in historical painting and was president of the National Academy of Design moreover his old Mentor or Washington Alston at age 57 had refused to commission himself and supported Morris the influential literary and art weekly the New York mirror had recommended him as one of the artists that should be chosen the chairman of the Joint Commission also appeared to favor him but when the committee produced a list of seven artists to make trial sketches Morse was not among them then the plan to acquire preliminary sketches was abandoned and Morse again had hoped that he may be appointed instead maybe notes the committee passed over the president of the National Academy to choose three of its members one of those members attempted to resign in Louis Moore's but President Van Buren refused his resignation there has never been a clear explanation for why Morse was not considered for commission for one of the paintings in the Rotunda although there is some speculation that his radical politics twice unsuccessfully run for mayor of New York City as a representative of an anti-immigrant an anti-catholic nativist party but Morse himself blamed one man former President John Quincy Adams Adams had lost his campaign to be re-elected to the presidency in 1828 to enter Jackson's populist but he had gone back to Congress where maybe notes he was still a contentious member of the House Adams sat on the committee and Morse was convinced that he was the one who had used his influence to have Morse excluded Moore seemed to think that Adam's complaint was not with him but with his father maybe explains Dr Morse had an agreeable acquaintance with President John Adams but John Quincy Adams had turned from the ways of his father become a Unitarian and Anti-Federalist perhaps the younger Adams had never forgiven Finley for being the son of the champion of Orthodoxy and federalism he killed me as a painter and intended to do it may God forgive him as I do Morris wrote but there is another possibility offered by author James Nguyen in an 1862 edition of Harper's new monthly magazine according to win at this stage Mr Adams moved that the competition should be extended to foreign artists declaring that the country possessed none of sufficient ability properly to execute the desired paintings this understandably raised the ire of the American art community and a particularly vehement letter excoriating Adams was published anonymously in the Saturday evening post when continues it was universally attributed to Mr Morris whose denial of his authorship was supposed to derive from modesty and consequently the more strongly he protested the more he was believed to be the author be that as it may it resulted in Mr Adams casting out his name from the list of applicants in committee and it consequently lost the opportunity for which he had so eagerly sought of perpetuating His Name by his artistic work upon the walls of the capital the commission lost Morse turned towards his work on the Telegraph and created the modern world ly notes how little did he then dream that a Fame more lasting and widespread than any he could ever hope to attain by the pencil speedily awaited him but the twist that shifted the course of Samuel morse's life and thus history has yet another twist Morse had not written the offending letter rather he was only appraised of his existence by its actual author his friend and renowned author James Fenimore Cooper who had written one of the most famous novels of his time last to the Mohicans maybe writes so it may have been that Cooper was the incidental cause of Adam's enmity for Morse and his loss of the commission whatever the various arguments over morse's contribution to the invention of the telegraph it's clear that the Innovations to which he made at least significant contribution as well as his tireless promotion for example convincing Congress to allocate the funds to build the D.C to Baltimore line were Central to development of the technology that sparked the electronic age in many ways Samuel F B Morse can be said to be the father of the modern world it is an interesting irony that a man once considered to be one of the greatest artists in America is not remembered for his art but as an inventor and it is such a strange twist that losing the commission that he had sought for so long that well that he seemed almost assured to get put him on the path to that invention he himself attributed that twist to divine power saying that someone more powerful chose the path for me and if it's true that it was divine intervention that denied him that commission and sparked him to invent the telegraph that gives a whole new meaning to his use of the words what hath God wrought it's not clear if he ever intended to go back to Art but he never painted another significant painting after 1837 while his work as an artist was never as successful as he hoped and largely forgotten in the shadow of his invention of the telegraph his art has received some Redemption in 1982 gallery of the Louvre so for 3.2 million dollars at auction it was at the time thought to be the highest amount ever paid for a work of art by an American Artist while his work as an artist rarely even paid the bills his worldwide Fame and royalties from his invention of the telegraph allowed him to live in comfort in his later years he passed away from pneumonia in 1872 at the age of 80. leaving behind in a state of some 500 thousand dollars roughly the equivalent of 11.3 million dollars today I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide check out our community on the historyguyguild.locals.com our webpage at thehistoryguy.com and our merchandise at teespring.com or book a special message from the history guy on 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Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 68,639

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, Samuel Morse

Id: 8VF7FKrglo8

Length: 20min 10sec (1210 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 25 2022