Peter J. Brownlee, associate curator, Terra Foundation for American Art Samuel F. B. Morse, best known for his role in the development of the electronic telegraph, began his career as a painter. One of his most important works, the newly conserved Gallery of the Louvre, is on view at the National Gallery of Art from June 25, 2011, through July 8, 2012, in the exhibition A New Look: Samuel F. B. Morse's "Gallery of the Louvre." In honor of the exhibition, curator Peter J. Brownlee utilizes facets of the painting's recent conservation as a jumping off point for a discussion of Morse's artistic training, his technique and experimental use of materials, and the theoretical underpinnings of and pictorial sources for his monumental painting.