Samuel F.B. Morse Gallery of the Louvre (1831–1833), a massive six-by-nine-foot canvas that would take him 14 months to complete. Morse intended for the painting, which depicted some three dozen of the Louvre’s greatest works displayed together in an imagined museum gallery, to serve as a sweeping art history lesson for the American people. This painting, he was certain, would finally propel him to fame. In 1832, following a three-year European tour,sailed home to America. Tucked away in the hold was(1831–1833), a massive six-by-nine-foot canvas that would take him 14 months to complete. Morse intended for the painting, which depicted some three dozen of the Louvre’s greatest works displayed together in an imagined museum gallery, to serve as a sweeping art history lesson for the American people. This painting, he was certain, would finally propel him to fame.

But as it turned out, his true masterpiece—the creation that would earn him international celebrity—was not a painting at all. Morse began to dabble in electromagnetics after his stay in Europe, in experiments that would eventually lead to the invention of the telegraph. He sent the first message, “What hath God wrought?”, from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore in 1844; the words have since become indelible. His name graces the language of dots and dashes still in use by radio operators today.

“His painting career got completely overshadowed by the telegraph, which was earth-shattering,” explained Morse scholar Paul Staiti, a professor at Mount Holyoke College. “The telegraph was the first time that communications and travel became different things, so Morse is rightfully famous for that. But he did have a substantive artistic career, especially in New York.”