Ruggles sylvester morse biography meaning

In 1846, the German-American history painter Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze created ‘The Iconoclasts’, a large oil canvas depicting 17th-century English Protestants destroying art works in a Catholic church.

The painting was commissioned by James Robb, a banker and collector then living in New Orleans. During the financial panic of 1857, Robb sold his home and much of his art.[1] As friends of Victoria Mansion know, Ruggles Morse purchased ‘The Iconoclasts’ and later hung it in the Parlor of his new summer home in Portland, Maine.

Leutze was by then famous, having painted ‘Washington Crossing the Delaware’ in 1851.

The painting “caused a frenzy” and drew 50,000 viewers when it was exhibited in New York.[2] The painter’s reputation was reason enough for Morse to invest in the piece, but he may have had emotional reasons, as well.

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