PJ Brownlee
Associate Curator, Terra Foundation for American Art
P.J. Brownlee. Terra Foundation.
Please give a brief summary of your background and expertise on Samuel Morse and his painting 'Gallery of the Louvre'.
As a historian of American art, I was well aware of the painting prior to my arrival at the Terra Foundation as a post-doctoral curatorial fellow in the fall of 2006. Soon after, I began to think about the painting in relation to period conceptions of color, its physical and perceptual elements, its theoretical and practical implications, and its application in painting. Morse’s mentors Washington Allston and Benjamin West were intensely interested in these subjects, as was Morse himself. Once at the Terra, I was tasked with the project of coordinating the painting’s conservation, and its documentation in the DVD and on our website. I also curated and organized the painting’s tour of three venues: Yale University Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. For these exhibitions, and their related programs, I conducted extensive research on the painting, its creator, and on its various contexts and artistic concerns.
Where is the 'Gallery of the Louvre' currently exhibited and where is it expected to be shown over the next few years?
The painting is currently on view at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where it will remain through August 2013. We are currently planning the next phase of its tour and are in discussions with major museums in the Midwest and the West coast. The painting will continue to tour national and international art museums over the coming years.
What was Samuel Morse's mindset as he painted 'Gallery of the Louvre' and again as he prepared to exhibit the painting in the United States?
Morse had traveled to Europe, where he studied and painted in London, Paris, and several places in Italy, in order to deepen his knowledge of the great collections and the masterworks, but also to hone his skills as a painter and colorist. He was the sitting president of the National Academy of Design, yet he still considered himself something of a student, both of the western tradition and of the practice of painting itself. He took with him a list of commissions for copies after works by the Old Master painters. By the time he arrived at the Louvre following a year of study and practice in Italy, I’m certain that the idea to paint a gallery picture of the Louvre’s greatest works had coalesced in his mind. He may have been thinking of the painting as a teaching tool, or as a way to raise the standard of taste for the general public. But he was certainly thinking of it as a compilation, a master stroke of what he called “intellectual imitation.” For Morse and others, innovation in the arts, Morse derived from close study of the principles of nature and their reproduction and intelligent combination in the fine arts.
After spending such a long time in the presence of the great masterworks of the European tradition in Italy and at the Louvre, Morse likely felt that he wanted to convey a sense of their allure and aesthetic value to his fellow Americans back home. He had seen the popular success of other single painting exhibitions—Rembrandt Peale’s The Court of Death is one such example—and likely thought he could capitalize on popular interest while also advancing his goals to educate the public.
What was Morse's reaction to the public's response, or lack thereof, and how did it play a role in his abandoning painting, and his turn to invention?
From his letters we know that Morse felt “jilted” by the public’s lack of response to his great works. Morse had also lost his wife prior to his departure for Europe, so he likely feels as if he had paid a personal price in his pursuit of painting as a profession. The failed tour of the painting likely confirmed Morse’s suspicions that the nation was in dire need of instruction in the fine arts. Its failure also threw into further doubt Morse’s long held ambition to win a commission to paint one of the grand murals housed in the United States Capitol Rotunda.
Please explain Samuel Morse's personality/character and the role it might have played in his quest for greatness and/or money.
From what I can gather of Morse’s personality, he seems like an extremely well educated man, but one prone to extreme paranoia, bitterness, and a strongly held sense of cultural elitism. As he abandoned painting and devoted himself increasingly to experimentation with the daguerreotype and the electromagnetic telegraph, he became obsessed with patenting and defending the originality of his invention. He spent the greater part of his life’s remaining years to establish and preserve his claim on this invention.
As a historian of American art, I was well aware of the painting prior to my arrival at the Terra Foundation as a post-doctoral curatorial fellow in the fall of 2006. Soon after, I began to think about the painting in relation to period conceptions of color, its physical and perceptual elements, its theoretical and practical implications, and its application in painting. Morse’s mentors Washington Allston and Benjamin West were intensely interested in these subjects, as was Morse himself. Once at the Terra, I was tasked with the project of coordinating the painting’s conservation, and its documentation in the DVD and on our website. I also curated and organized the painting’s tour of three venues: Yale University Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. For these exhibitions, and their related programs, I conducted extensive research on the painting, its creator, and on its various contexts and artistic concerns.
Where is the 'Gallery of the Louvre' currently exhibited and where is it expected to be shown over the next few years?
The painting is currently on view at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where it will remain through August 2013. We are currently planning the next phase of its tour and are in discussions with major museums in the Midwest and the West coast. The painting will continue to tour national and international art museums over the coming years.
What was Samuel Morse's mindset as he painted 'Gallery of the Louvre' and again as he prepared to exhibit the painting in the United States?
Morse had traveled to Europe, where he studied and painted in London, Paris, and several places in Italy, in order to deepen his knowledge of the great collections and the masterworks, but also to hone his skills as a painter and colorist. He was the sitting president of the National Academy of Design, yet he still considered himself something of a student, both of the western tradition and of the practice of painting itself. He took with him a list of commissions for copies after works by the Old Master painters. By the time he arrived at the Louvre following a year of study and practice in Italy, I’m certain that the idea to paint a gallery picture of the Louvre’s greatest works had coalesced in his mind. He may have been thinking of the painting as a teaching tool, or as a way to raise the standard of taste for the general public. But he was certainly thinking of it as a compilation, a master stroke of what he called “intellectual imitation.” For Morse and others, innovation in the arts, Morse derived from close study of the principles of nature and their reproduction and intelligent combination in the fine arts.
After spending such a long time in the presence of the great masterworks of the European tradition in Italy and at the Louvre, Morse likely felt that he wanted to convey a sense of their allure and aesthetic value to his fellow Americans back home. He had seen the popular success of other single painting exhibitions—Rembrandt Peale’s The Court of Death is one such example—and likely thought he could capitalize on popular interest while also advancing his goals to educate the public.
What was Morse's reaction to the public's response, or lack thereof, and how did it play a role in his abandoning painting, and his turn to invention?
From his letters we know that Morse felt “jilted” by the public’s lack of response to his great works. Morse had also lost his wife prior to his departure for Europe, so he likely feels as if he had paid a personal price in his pursuit of painting as a profession. The failed tour of the painting likely confirmed Morse’s suspicions that the nation was in dire need of instruction in the fine arts. Its failure also threw into further doubt Morse’s long held ambition to win a commission to paint one of the grand murals housed in the United States Capitol Rotunda.
Please explain Samuel Morse's personality/character and the role it might have played in his quest for greatness and/or money.
From what I can gather of Morse’s personality, he seems like an extremely well educated man, but one prone to extreme paranoia, bitterness, and a strongly held sense of cultural elitism. As he abandoned painting and devoted himself increasingly to experimentation with the daguerreotype and the electromagnetic telegraph, he became obsessed with patenting and defending the originality of his invention. He spent the greater part of his life’s remaining years to establish and preserve his claim on this invention.