An endless parade of American writers and painters lingered in the Louvre during the 19th century. In 1887, Henry James wrote, “It sounds like a paradox, but it is a very simple truth, that when to-day we look for ‘American art’ we find it mainly in Paris. When we find it out of Paris, we at least find a great deal of Paris in it.” In the 1830s, the expatriate community in Paris revolved around James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Pioneers and The Last of the Mohicans, and his inseparable friend Samuel F.B. Morse. Dr. Barry Maine, professor of English at Wake Forest University, will explain Cooper’s presence in Gallery of the Louvre and the “great deal of Paris” to be found in American literature of the period.
Left: Detail: Samuel F.B. Morse, Gallery of the Louvre, 1831-33. Oil on canvas. 73 3/4 x 108 in. Terra Foundation of American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.51.