The painting of Samuel F. B. Morse -- like much of early American art -- is essentially unknown in Europe. French aesthetics expert Jean-Philippe Antoine came across the famous telegrapher's art, and art theory, almost by accident: The old story of a volume picked up at random in a bookshop. But he was at once intrigued by the idea of someone who could cross over so thoroughly between painting and science.

The standard view of Morse is that his disappointments as an artist led him to lay down his brush and embrace technology instead. Antoine believes there might be another story to be told. He feels there is overlap between Morse's two identities -- Morse worked on the telegraph while he was painting and planned to return to painting even after telegraphy took off.

For Antoine, Morse's 1822 "House of Representatives" may have in it the germ of his ideas on science and technology, as well as providing a notably democratic vision of American identity. Here are a few hints the 7-by-11-foot canvas itself gives that this might be the case.

-- By Blake Gopnik - Washington Post Staff Writer