Louisa W. B. Hughes
8 1/2 in. x 6 1/2 in.
Samuel Finley Breese Morse,
American,
(1791–1872)
Medium and Support:
oil on board
Credit Line:
Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company
Accession Number:
2002.1.97
Morse had already painted miniatures while at Yale, but the future inventor of the telegraph polished his elegant style under Washington Allston in this country and in England. Morse worked in New Haven, Hartford, and New York City.
Louisa Walter Bishop Hughes (1804-1872), lived in New Haven. Morse may have painted this portrait around the time of her marriage in July 1828 to Enos Brooks Miles Hughes, a merchant.