7 Samuel F.B. Morse 7to go to England in order to study that art. During the War
of 1812, between Great Britain and the United States,
Morse reacted to the English contempt for Americans by
becoming passionately pro-American. Like the majority
of Americans of his time, however, he accepted English
artistic standards, including the “historical” style of
painting—the romantic portrayal of legends and historical
events with personalities gracing the foreground in grand
poses and brilliant colours.
But when, on his return home in 1815, Morse found that
Americans did not appreciate his historical canvases, he
reluctantly took up portraiture again to earn a living. 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
and a bold rendering of his subjects’ character with a touch
of the Romanticism he had imbibed in England.
Although often poor during those early years, Morse
was sociable and at home with intellectuals, the wealthy,
the religiously orthodox, and the politically conservative.
In addition, he possessed the gift of friendship. Among
his friends in his middle years were the French hero of
the American Revolution, the marquis de Lafayette,
whose attempts to promote liberal reform in Europe Morse
ardently endorsed, and the novelist James Fenimore
Cooper. Morse and Cooper shared several traits: both
were ardent U.S. republicans, though both had aristocratic
social tastes, and both suffered from the American pref-
erence for European art.
Morse also had the gift of leadership. As part of a
campaign against the licentiousness of the theatre, he
helped launch, in 1827, the New York Journal of Commerce,
which refused theatre advertisements. He also was a
founder of the National Academy of Design, organized to