Samuel F. B. Morse’s "Gallery of the Louvre" and the Art of Invention

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Jan 24 - May 05, 2015

Scott Galleries, Chandler Wing

 

Samuel F. B. Morse, of Morse code fame, may be better known as an inventor, but he began his career as a painter. This exhibition focuses exclusively on his masterwork, Gallery of the Louvre (1831–1833), featuring great paintings from the Louvre’s collection. The six-by-nine- foot canvas depicts masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Caravaggio, Rubens, and Van Dyck, among others, in a configuration deliberately fabricated by Morse.

 

For this exhibition, I worked with the Education Department on an opportunity for visitors to play curator. Each visitor can design their own gallery space using various magnets of the Huntington's artworks - much like Morse did in his creation of the monumental painting on display.