The House of Representatives
Samuel F. B. Morse·1822, probably reworked 1823
Historical Context
Samuel F. B. Morse's The House of Representatives, painted in 1822 and probably reworked in 1823, is the most ambitious painting of his artistic career. The enormous canvas depicts the chamber of the House of Representatives by lamplight, showing the legislators at work beneath the new dome of the Capitol. Morse intended this painting to establish his reputation as a major history painter, but its commercial failure at a public exhibition contributed to his eventual disillusionment with art and his turn to invention.
Technical Analysis
Morse's oil-on-canvas technique combines ambitious architectural perspective with portraiture of over eighty individual figures. The dramatic lamplight illumination creates a unified atmospheric effect across the vast interior, demonstrating both his technical ambition and his sensitivity to light effects that would later inform his scientific work.
Provenance
Acquired from the artist by 1828 by Charles Robert Leslie [1794-1859], London; sold c. September 1839 to Sherman Converse [1790-1873], New Haven. (Coates and Company, New York), in 1847. W.C. Annan, Esq, San Francisco, by 1857.[1] Joseph Ripley, in 1858. Purchased by Daniel Huntington [1816-1906], New York, by 1873; purchased from his estate 17 June 1911 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art. [1] The 1857 annual report of the Mercantile Library Association of San Francisco refers to “the large and valuable picture representing the interior of the United States House of Representatives” by Morse that was deposited by Annan to adorn the association’s suite of rented rooms (see bibliography).This information was kindly provided by Paul D. Schweizer, Museum Director Emeritus of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica (see e-mail of 6 January 2022, in NGA curatorial files).
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