WASHINGTON, DC.- The renowned painting Gallery of the Louvre (1831–1833) by American inventor Samuel F. B. Morse (1791–1872) has been recently conserved and is now on view in a focus exhibition at the National Gallery of Art near the East Garden Court of the West Building.
On loan from the Terra Foundation for American Art from June 25, through July 8, 2012, the painting depicts masterpieces from the Louvre's collection that Morse "reinstalled" in one of that museum's grandest galleries, the Salon Carré. collector members of the ArtKabinett social network love this work -- a rich painting of paintings.
A New Look: Samuel F. B. Morse's "Gallery of the Louvre" was previously on view at Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, from March 1 through June 12.
"The Gallery of the Louvre will not only enable visitors to learn more about the artistic accomplishments of Morse, best known for his inventions, and will further their understanding of his greatest painting and its historical importance," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "We are delighted to include it in our series of special installations focused on an iconic American work."
"It is a wonderful tribute to Morse's ambitious undertaking that his Gallery of the Louvre is on view at the National Gallery of Art in our nation's capital. Morse had an unwavering belief in the power of art to foster cultural pride, yet the masterpiece he completed nearly 200 years ago was the result of a transatlantic effort," stated Elizabeth Glassman, president and chief executive officer, Terra Foundation for American Art. "Painted in Paris and New York, Gallery of the Louvre truly embodies our international mission. The foundation is committed to sharing its distinguished collection in an effort to stimulate cross-cultural dialogue and exchange on American art. For more than one year, the painting will reside at the National Gallery of Art, linking its excellent collections of American and European masterworks."
Gallery of the Louvre
Morse envisioned the Salon Carré as a workshop where individuals study, sketch, and copy from an imagined assemblage of the Louvre's finest works, including paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Veronese, Caravaggio, Rubens, Van Dyck, and Watteau. Many of these artists are also represented on the Main Floor in the National Gallery of Art's own collection; their works are on view nearby in the West Building.
In 1830, during a brief visit to the Louvre, Morse may have conceived a plan to paint one large picture containing reduced versions of the masterpieces of the collection. Morse's Gallery had a number of precedents, including Johann Zoffany's famed The Tribuna of the Uffizi (1772–1778, Royal Collection, Windsor Castle). And Morse's idea of depicting the Salon Carré, one of the Louvre's grandest spaces, follows in the vein of Hubert Robert's painting Project for the Transformation of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre (1796, Louvre).
But when Morse returned to the Louvre in 1831 to begin the project, he was disappointed to find the Salon Carré hung with contemporary French paintings, as depicted in Nicolas-Sébastien Maillot's Salon Carré du Louvre in 1831 (1831, Louvre). Morse therefore replaced them with masterpieces from the Louvre's Grande Galerie, and he featured its entrance in his final composition.
