Samuel F. B. Morse

Byron M. Pickett

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pickett's bust-length portrait of Morse is related to his over-lifesize bronze statue of the artist-inventor, dedicated in 1871 in Central Park. The elderly bearded Morse is portrayed in contemporary dress with cloaked shoulders. His drape and unincised pupils are typical neoclassical portrait devices that persisted well into the nineteenth century. This blend of realism and classicism exemplifies the portrait style favored by such other New York-based sculptors as Henry Kirke Brown, John Quincy Adams Ward, William O'Donovan, and Launt Thompson.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art