Samuel F. B. Morse
Smithsonian American Art Museum

Samuel F. B. Morse

Horatio Greenough, born Boston, MA 1805-died Somerville, MA 1852 · 1831

marble
Smithsonian American Art Museum
CC0 — Public Domain
Smithsonian American Art Museum

Samuel F. B. Morse began his career as an artist and produced a series of highly acclaimed paintings, including portraits of the most celebrated people of the day. While working as a painter, he labored to instill in his fellow Americans the idea of the vital role of the arts in the development of the United States. Because of a lack of steady patronage, Morse ultimately abandoned art and devoted his time to developing the electromagnetic telegraph he unveiled in 1837.

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