Cultured Wednesday: Thomas and Edward Moran

Brothers they were, both painted mountains:  Thomas Moran painted the Rockies, Edward Moran the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.  Both were born in the Old World, but grew up and painted in the New World.

Edward and Thomas Moran were born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, the former in 1829, the latter in 1837.  They left for the new world with their parents in 1844, and later shared a studio.

Edward Moran is arguably most famous for his series of 13 historical paintings of United States marine history which he stared painting in 1885, at the height of his career.  He chose to have thirteen paintings in the series because of the significance of the number in American history (13 colonies, 13 stars and stripes on the original US flag, etc.).  The subjects include Leif Ericsson, Christopher Columbus, Hernando de Soto, Henry Hudson, and Admiral Dewey, among others.

Here are some more of his sea-inspired paintings: Note the flags!

And here’s one that’s interesting for us because Lake Erie is close enough for us to have an impact on our weather, especially in the form of lake effect snow in the winter:

Thomas Moran, on the other hand, is considered one of the premier painters of the American landscape, in particular, the American West.  He is probably most famous for his involvement in making Yellowstone a national park:

Moran’s paintings along with Jackson’s photographs revealed the scale and splendor of the beautiful Yellowstone region more than written or oral descriptions, persuading President Grant and the US Congress that Yellowstone was to be preserved.  Moran’s impact on Yellowstone was great, but Yellowstone had a significant influence on the artist, too.  (…)  He even adopted a new signature: T-Y-M, Thomas “Yellowstone” Moran.  Just one year after his introduction to the area, Moran captured the imagination of the American public with his first enormous painting of a far-western natural wonder, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. (quoted from his wiki)

Here are some more of his magnificent mountain-scapes.

This is one that makes us hope for truly beautiful fall colors this year:

And a last one, called A Miracle of Nature.

To end this post, I would like to add the featured painting.  It’s one of Edward’s, called Life Saving Patrol.