Artwork
Susan Walker Morse (The Muse)
Susan Walker Morse (The Muse) is an oil painting by the Romanticist artist Samuel Finley Breese Morse. It dates from 1836 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This oil on canvas depicts Susan Walker Morse, the eldest daughter of artist Samuel F.
About this work
Seventeen-year-old Susan Walker Morse sits in an imagined grand interior, holding a sketchbook and pencil, her gaze lifted in thought. Her father, Samuel F. B. Morse, painted her around 1836 while secretly developing the electric telegraph in a New York University studio. The full-length portrait, which entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1945, quietly marked his farewell to painting.
Subject & Meaning
The composition thus transforms a specific individual into an emblem of muse-hood, intertwining portraiture with the idealized iconography of artistic creation.
The painting depicts Susan Walker Morse in a contemplative pose, reclining on a chaise longue with a sketchbook and sketch nearby. The title 'The Muse' and the inclusion of drawing implements, lace, a ribbon, an urn, and a footstool imbue the portrait with allegorical meaning. Rather than a straightforward likeness, the work presents the sitter as a personification of artistic inspiration.
The objects, particularly the sketchbook and the act of contemplation, symbolize the creative process, while the classical urn and the formal setting evoke the timelessness of art. The composition thus transforms a specific individual into an emblem of muse-hood, intertwining portraiture with the idealized iconography of artistic creation.
Technique & Style
The work is an oil painting on canvas, measuring 187.3 by 146.4 cm. As a portrait, it presents the sitter reclining on a chaise longue, surrounded by objects indicating her artistic nature: a sketchbook, sketch, lace, ribbon, tassel, and urn. The composition and inclusion of these elements reflect the sitter's role as a muse, emphasizing contemplation and the art of drawing. No specific information on handling or condition is available in the sources.
Overview
This oil on canvas depicts Susan Walker Morse, the eldest daughter of artist Samuel F. B. Morse, around 1836–37. Standing nearly six feet tall, the full-length portrait captures the seventeen-year-old in a reflective pose, holding a sketchbook and pencil. The work represents a pivotal moment for Morse, painted just as he was transitioning from a struggling art career to his groundbreaking scientific endeavors with the telegraph.
Context
During the period he painted his daughter, Samuel F. B. Morse faced significant challenges sustaining himself as a portraitist in New York. His art exhibitions, including the ambitious Gallery of the Louvre, met with limited commercial success. Concurrently, Morse was deeply immersed in experiments with electromagnetism at New York University, a pursuit that would soon lead to the invention of the single-wire telegraph and Morse code.
Legacy
Susan Walker Morse (The Muse) serves as both a deeply personal portrayal of his daughter and an unwitting farewell to Samuel F. B. Morse's artistic career. Within a few years of its completion, he would fully abandon painting to dedicate himself to science and invention. The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired this significant work in 1945 through the bequest of Herbert L. Pratt.
Artist & collection
Artist
Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter.
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