Daniel Huntington, The Atlantic Cable Projectors, 1895, oil on canvas, 87 x 108 1/4 in, New York State Museum, Albany, NY.
About this Artwork
Cyrus Field, who appears in the right foreground, presides over the group of investors known as the Cable Cabinet. An elderly Samuel F. B. Morse, one of Field’s partners in the enterprise, stands behind the group. A segment of the cable rests on the table at the far left, near the globe from Field’s study used to map the route of the underwater “telegraphic plateau.” The Smithsonian played its own role in this project, as Joseph Henry, the first Smithsonian secretary, was also involved in this ambitious venture.