He opened a studio in Boston, but as
sitters were few, he made a trip through New England, taking
commissions for portraits, and also visited Charleston, South
Carolina, where some of his paintings may be seen today.
At Concord, New Hampshire, Morse met Miss Lucretia Walker, a
beautiful and cultivated young woman, and they were married in
1818. Morse then settled in New York. His reputation as a painter
increased steadily, though he gained little money, and in 1825 he
was in Washington painting a portrait of the Marquis La Fayette,
for the city of New York, when he heard from his father the
bitter news of his wife's death in New Haven, then a journey of
seven days from Washington. Leaving the portrait of La Fayette
unfinished, the heartbroken artist made his way home.
Two years afterwards Morse was again obsessed with the marvels of
electricity, as he had been in college. The occasion this time
was a series of lectures on that subject given by James Freeman
Dana before the New York Athenaeum in the chapel of Columbia
College. Morse attended these lectures and formed with Dana an
intimate acquaintance. Dana was in the habit of going to Morse's
studio, where the two men would talk earnestly for long hours.
But Morse was still devoted to his art; besides, he had himself
and three children to support, and painting was his only source
of income.
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