Samuel F.B. Morse

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TitleSamuel F.B. Morse

Artist Launt Thompson (American, 1833 - 1894)

Datec. mid-1860s

MediumMarble

DimensionsOverall: 23 1/2 × 15 × 12 in. Other (base): 44 × 15 5/8 × 15 5/8 in.

SignedSigned on reverse: "Launt Thompson. Sc."

Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY

Object number103-S

Label TextOn his arrival in New York in 1859, Launt Thompson immediately became part of the local art scene and therefore naturally befriended many of the artists active in the National Academy, no doubt including Morse. This bust of the past president of the Academy and inventor of the telegraph shows the great man at the peak of his fame. It was modeled probably in the mid-1860s but certainly by 1870 when a cast of it, presumably in plaster, was exhibited at the Yale School of the Fine Arts, New Haven, Conn., and a marble, probably the Academy's version, was exhibited at the Century Association in New York. Thompson evidently retained the marble for a number of years and still owned it in 1882 when he exhibited at the Academy, offering it for sale for $1000. The Academy's bust shows Morse at the age of seventy or more, heavily bearded and with long hair. He wears a heavy jacket with large buttons in the front. His head is turned slight to the right. Compositionally, it is very close to a bust of Morse by Byron M. Pickett (Private Collection), executed in 1870, probably in connection with Pickett's statue of Morse for Central Park.

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