Catherine Ann Russell Nelson (1798-1875)

N0214.1948

Samuel F.B. Morse painted Samuel Nelson (1792-1873) and his wife Catherine Ann Russell Nelson (1798-1875) in the late 1820s when Morse spent the summer in Cherry Valley, New York, at the invitation of his cousin, James Otis Morse. A leading figure in Cooperstown, Samuel Nelson had a long, successful law career. He was Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court and later served as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. His summer law office is now located at The Farmers' Museum (the sister museum to Fenimore Art Museum) in Cooperstown. Best remembered as the inventor of the Morse code and the telegraph, Morse originally intended to be an artist. He studied with Benjamin West in London and aspired to be a history painter. However, finding that the majority of his commissions were for portraiture, he stopped painting in 1837.

height 39.5 in ; width 35 in