ca. 1810–11

American Paintings and Sculpture


In this crowded, close-up portrait of his father, an evangelical Calvinist minister, nineteen-year-old Samuel F. B. Morse captured the older man’s intense physical presence. Seated in a drapery-shrouded library, dressed in a luxurious study robe that covers his ministerial black, Jedidiah holds pen to paper. It was said that Jedidiah, who is portrayed here lost in thought, was "always thinking, always writing, always talking, always acting." He became known as the "father of American geography," having written the first book on the subject.

Medium

Oil on wood

Dimensions

28 3/8 × 22 7/8 in. (72.1 × 58.1 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Miss Helen E. Carpenter

Accession Number

1898.4a-b

Culture
Period

19th century

Classification
Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Bibliography
  • Cheryl R. Wakely and Woodstock Historical Society, A Journey Through Woodstock 1686–2011: From the Roxbury Fells to the Eastward Vale (Virgina Beach, Va.: Donning Company Publishers, 2011), 223, ill.
Object copyright
Additional information

Object/Work type

portraits

Signed

(31.2 x 14 cm)

Technical metadata and APIs

IIIF

Open in Mirador

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