Christian Schussele's Men of Progress was described in 1862 as a painting of "the most distinguished inventors of this country, whose improvements . . . have changed the aspect of modern society, and caused the present age to be designated as an age of progress." The nineteen men in the painting were brought together only in the artist's imagination. They are (left to right): William Thomas Green Morton, James Bogardus, Samuel Colt, Cyrus Hall McCormick, Joseph Saxton, Charles Goodyear, Peter Cooper, Jordan Lawrence Mott, Joseph Henry, Eliphalet Nott, John Ericsson, Frederick Sickels, Samuel Finley Breese Morse, Henry Burden, Richard March Hoe, Erastus Bigelow, Isaiah Jennings, Thomas Blanchard, and Elias Howe. In the background appears a portrait of Benjamin Franklin, the patron saint of American science and invention.

Christian Schussele (1824-1879)
Oil on canvas, 1862
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift of Andrew W. Mellon, 1942
NPG.65.60

Enlarged image

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