SAMUEL MORSE’S PAINTING “GALLERY OF THE LOUVRE?

Monday, 09 October 2006 18:49

ATLANTA, GA – The High Museum of Art will exhibit American artist Samuel F. B. Morse’s painting “Gallery of the Louvre” as part of the inaugural “Louvre Atlanta” exhibition, “Kings of Collectors.”  The painting, a masterwork from the Terra Foundation for American Art collection, depicts an early 19^th-century view of the Salon Carré of the Musée du Louvre.

Two of the paintings featured in Morse’s work—Guido Reni’s “The Union of Drawing and Color,” ca. 1620–5, and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s “The Young Beggar,” ca. 1650—will also be on view in “Kings as Collectors” at the High through September 2, 2007.  Additionally, the High owns a copy of the “Diana of Versailles” sculpture pictured in Morse’s painting.  The sculpture, by Pierre Julien, 1782, is on view on the second floor of the High’s Stent Family Wing.

“The Terra Foundation’s generous loan to ‘Kings as Collectors’ adds a finishing touch to this exhibition,” said David Brenneman, the High’s Director of Collections and Exhibitions and Managing Curator of “Louvre Atlanta.”  “It exemplifies the vast influence of European masters on American artists and provides an entrée into the past lives of these two paintings, which were among some of the first and most important works collected by the Kings of France." 

“Kings as Collectors” includes paintings, sculptures and antiquities from the collections of Kings Louis XIV and Louis XVI—the two most important collectors of the 17th and 18th centuries.  Morse’s painting reflects how royal collections were absorbed by and transformed into the spectacular public museum that astonished both Europeans and Americans in the early decades of the 19th century.  Through his art, Morse sought to demonstrate the importance of art museums in democratic society and of instruction and learning from masterpieces.

“Indeed Samuel Morse formulated an important theoretical statement for American artists with ‘Gallery of the Louvre’,” said Elizabeth Kennedy, the Terra Foundation’s Curator of Collection.  “By placing a portrait of himself in the painting as a teacher advising a student, Morse postulated that American artists should learn from the masterpieces in the Louvre in order to create works of art that incorporated their experience as Americans.”

Samuel F. B. Morse

Samuel Finley Breese Morse was born in Charlestown, Mass., in 1791. After attending Yale College, Morse studied painting with Washington Allston in Boston and at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1811.  Upon settling in New York City in 1824, he became one of the most respected painters of his time, painting “Gallery of the Louvre” in 1831.  Morse is also known for his work with the telegraph, specifically for his creation of Morse code in 1838. He died of pneumonia in New York City in 1872.

Louvre Atlanta

The High Museum of Art and the Musée du Louvre in Paris have developed an unprecedented partnership that will bring hundreds of works of art from the Louvre’s collections to Atlanta.  Built around specific themes and periods, the High will present a series of long-term special exhibitions of art from the Louvre from October 2006 through 2009.  The collaboration will also include the exchange of cultural expertise and operational strategies, as well as educational programs and the development of joint bilingual publications, conferences, films and seminars exploring exhibitions and related themes.  This exclusive partnership will continue the High’s longstanding strategy of collaborating with international institutions to bring great art to Atlanta.

For more information, please visit www.louvreatlanta.org