Gallery of the Louvre

Photographic copy of the original painted by Samuel F. B. Morse

2012 copy of c.1831-1833 original

George Clarke (1768-1835) met Morse in 1829 when the artist spent the summer in Cooperstown and nearby Cherry Valley. When Morse’s plan for public exhibitions of the Gallery of the Louvre fell through, he wrote Clarke offering the painting for $1,200. Clarke purchased it in September 1833 and added an additional $100.00 for the frame. The painting hung at Hyde Hall until the late 1840s when it was sold by George Clarke, Jr. (1822-1889). The original is now in the collection of the Terra Foundation.