Portrait of Jeremiah Evarts, c. 1817
Oil on canvas Samuel Finley Breese Morse, American, 1791–1872 30 1/4 x 25 in. (P-001-81)

Jeremiah Evarts (1781–1831) was a writer and moral reformer in early America. His portrait was painted by Samuel Finley Breese Morse—a distant cousin of the Museum’s namesake—around 1817. Evarts and Morse shared a patriotic Calvinist faith and a quixotic vision for the young republic. A famous artist, Morse took portrait commissions from presidents and famous dignitaries, and would later help organize the National Academy of Design before pioneering the US single-wire telegraph. Evarts published religious magazines and organized missionary projects before embarking on a laborious political campaign to halt the Indian Removal Act. The project proved fatal for Evarts and thousands of American Indians. Both Evarts and Morse left indelible legacies, among them this salient portrait. Morse’s style foreshadows later portraiture techniques intent on capturing the sitter’s character. With technical skill, Morse sublimates his own romantic tendencies in the subject’s gravitas, depicting Evarts, not as a dour Puritan but as a determined preacher calling the viewer to share in his conviction.