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for Edward Moran
1829 - 1901
The son of a hand-loom operator, Edward Moran was born in Bolton-le-Moor, England in 1829. After working at his father's trade in England, Moran came to Baltimore with his family in 1844. The next year he left for Philadelphia, working alternatively as a cabinet maker, house painter, and loom operator. Around 1853 he was introduced to landscape painting by James Hamilton and Paul Weber. By 1857, he was a professional artist, teaching his younger brothers, Thomas and Peter. With Thomas he went to London in 1861, where he studied briefly at the Royal Academy. Back in the United States, he made trips to Ohio and upstate New York in the mid-1860s. In 1868 Moran became involved in controversy with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts when he protested the adverse hanging of his pictures by painting over them with red opaque wash and cutting one from its frame. From this point, he became a more regular exhibitor at the National Academy, moving to New York in 1871.
Moran sold his studio contents in 1877 and traveled to France. There he studied along the seacoast and developed an interest in marine painting. Back in New York by 1879 he exhibited work regularly at the Academy over the next decade. He began the culminating project of his life in 1892, a series of thirteen historical marine paintings depicting battles from the year 1001 to the Spanish-American War. After his death in New York in 1901, this series was the object of a bitter court battle between Moran's widow, Annette Parmentier, and the executor of his will.
Moran was first elected an Associate of the National Academy in 1872, but he failed to qualify by submitting a diploma portrait. Reinhart's painting, however, was accepted two years later. He depicts Moran from below with a somewhat dramatic halo of light around his head. The critic for The Aldine numbered the portrait among "the finest" in the 1874 Annual Exhibition. Soon after the portrait was sent in, Moran resigned from the Academy. The Council tabled his resignation, as it did again in 1890. He was finally successful the third time in 1893 when the Council accepted his resignation. Moran's sons, Percy and Leon, both became painters.
Moran sold his studio contents in 1877 and traveled to France. There he studied along the seacoast and developed an interest in marine painting. Back in New York by 1879 he exhibited work regularly at the Academy over the next decade. He began the culminating project of his life in 1892, a series of thirteen historical marine paintings depicting battles from the year 1001 to the Spanish-American War. After his death in New York in 1901, this series was the object of a bitter court battle between Moran's widow, Annette Parmentier, and the executor of his will.
Moran was first elected an Associate of the National Academy in 1872, but he failed to qualify by submitting a diploma portrait. Reinhart's painting, however, was accepted two years later. He depicts Moran from below with a somewhat dramatic halo of light around his head. The critic for The Aldine numbered the portrait among "the finest" in the 1874 Annual Exhibition. Soon after the portrait was sent in, Moran resigned from the Academy. The Council tabled his resignation, as it did again in 1890. He was finally successful the third time in 1893 when the Council accepted his resignation. Moran's sons, Percy and Leon, both became painters.
