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Major Anthony Porter

Artist Samuel Finley Breeze Morse (American, 1791 - 1872)

Sitter Major Anthony Porter (American, 1788 - 1869)

Dateby 1831

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsFramed: 36 1/8 × 31 1/8 × 3 inches (91.8 × 79.1 × 7.6 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mary Haskell Minis.

Object number1937.3

On View

Not on view

CopyrightThe images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextAnthony Porter (1788-1869) spent decades in Savannah, Georgia as a Justice of the Chatham County Inferior Court, and served as a City Alderman and on the Green & Pulaski Monuments Commission with Alexander Telfair and RW Habersham, and also the Public School Commission for the founding of Massie Free School. Although he is most famous for inventing the telegraph, Samuel F. B. Morse avidly pursued the visual arts until he ceased painting in 1837. Morse painted commissioned portraits to support himself, but his true passion was for grand history paintings. His contributions to the field were many. Morse founded the National Academy of Design in New York and served as its president from 1826 to 1845. He also became the first professor of the literature of the arts of design at New York University in 1835.

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