Daniel Huntington (1816-1906)
Oil on canvas, 1900
Gift of the Partnership for New York City, Inc.
NYSM 2003.41.6

Talented in both artistic and scientific pursuits, Samuel Finley Breese Morse has been called the “American Leonardo.” As a young man he studied under Washington Allston, Benjamin West, and John Singleton Copley, developing a career as an accomplished portrait painter. He was a founder and first president of the National Academy of Design in New York City. In mid-life Morse turned his attention toward scientific interests, revolutionizing worldwide communication technology as the developer of the telegraph and the dot-dash code that bears his name. In the late 1850s he was active in the development of the first transatlantic telegraph cable, which ran between Newfoundland and Ireland.

Daniel Huntington studied under Morse. In this posthumous portrait of his mentor, commissioned by the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, Huntington memorializes Morse the artist, however, rather than Morse the scientist. Huntington enjoyed a productive sixty-year career as a successful and versatile artist. He also served as president of the National Academy of Design.