Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791–1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs. He was a co-developer of Morse code and helped to develop the commercial use of telegraphy.

This portrait is from the collection of ‘highly finished steel engravings’ included in the two volume series, Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and Women (1872-1873). The well crafted engravings are after photographic portraits of the subjects by noted photographers such as William Downey, Napoleon Sarony, John Mayall, Antoine Claudet, Maull & Polyblank.