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Samuel F. B. Morse

Artist Napoleon Sarony (American, born Canada, 1821 - 1896)
Dateca. 1870
MediumAlbumen cabinet card
DimensionsImage and sheet: 5 7/8 × 4 1/16 inches (14.92 × 10.32 cm)
Mount: 6 1/2 × 4 1/4 inches (16.51 × 10.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Object number2005.27.229
SignedOn mount recto, bottom, in black type: "Sarony", "37 Union Square, N.Y."
InscribedOn mount verso, top, in pencil: "Prof. Samuel F. B. Morse / "Inventor of Telegraph." "
Markingsnone
On View
Not on view
Collections
DescriptionImage of a man with full beard (Samuel F.B. Morse); several medals are pinned to his jacket.Gallery Label

Samuel F. B. Morse played a vital role in the early history of photography. He was in Paris in January 1839 when Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre first publicly presented the daguerreotype. By the fall of 1839, after Daguerre’s process was published in English, Morse produced his own plates and gave demonstrations to early American practitioners.


Taken approximately two years before his death, this portrait of Morse would have been produced for commercial distribution by Napoleon Sarony. Sarony operated one of the most successful portrait studios in New York City from 1866 to 1896.

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


Samuel F.B. Morse
Napoleon Sarony
ca. 1870
2005.27.3799
Oscar Wilde
Napoleon Sarony
1882
2005.27.228
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Napoleon Sarony
ca. 1875-1880
2005.27.231
Self-portrait
Napoleon Sarony
ca. 1882
2005.27.3797
Self-portrait
Napoleon Sarony
ca. 1875
2005.27.506
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Napoleon Sarony
ca. 1880-1885
2005.27.230
Alice D. Lingard
Napoleon Sarony
ca. 1882
2005.27.3798
Samuel F.B. Morse
Unknown
ca. 1855
2005.27.3423
Frederick Douglass
George Kendall Warren
ca. 1870
2005.27.272
Self-portrait
Charles D. Fredricks
1873
2005.27.355
2005.27.3460 A recto overall
Napoleon Sarony
ca. 1885
2005.27.3460.A,B
J.B. Snyder, Merchant Tailor
Hock & Houston
ca. 1875
2005.27.3788