In 1853, the Philadelphia wood-engraving firm of Scattergood and Telfer hired sixteen-year-old Thomas Moran (1837–1926) as an apprentice. Philadelphia was a major publishing center in the United States during the nineteenth century, home of the popular periodical The Saturday Evening Post and the well-known book publisher J. B. Lippincott. Wood engraving was then the primary technique used to create illustrations for publications. Although a wood-engraving firm would assign an apprentice duties such as preparing the wood for the copyists and engravers, David Scattergood quickly recognized Moran’s drawing skills and put him to work sketching images on the blocks for the engravers to carve.[1]

Wood engraving uses the small end of the piece of wood rather than the broad, flat surface. As was customary, Moran copied the compositions of other artists onto the blocks, but the drawings provided by the artists were not always the same size as the end of the block. Thus, the apprenticeship provided Moran with practical lessons in the technical aspects of artistic production, such as perspective and scale, since he had to maintain the integrity of an original drawing on a smaller surface. Although Moran may not have been creating his own compositions, the apprenticeship helped refine his drawing skills through constant copying and introduced him to the commercial possibilities of printmaking.[2]

After working all day at Scattergood and Telfer, Moran continued to hone his drawing skills by gaslight in the evening, and to create watercolors during his free daylight hours. According to the Moran family, Thomas traded his watercolors for art books, obtaining the British artist J. M. W. Turner’s Harbours of England and The Rivers of France, as well as several sets of his Liber Studiorum (Book of Studies) from the Philadelphia bookseller C. J. Price & Company. These books were collections of prints by Turner that gave artists an opportunity to study and copy his work so they could learn about the various types of landscapes, such as historic, mythological, mountain or forest, and seascapes.[3] As Moran’s interest in landscape imagery increased, he wanted more time to sketch outdoors and to paint. The limitations imposed on him by his apprenticeship with Scattergood and Telfer led him to leave the firm in 1856.

At this point he shared a studio in Philadelphia with one of his older brothers, the artist Edward Moran (1829–1901). Both brothers benefited from the guidance of the artist James Hamilton (1819–1878), who maintained a studio nearby.[4] Originally from Great Britain, Hamilton established his career in the United States and was an admirer of the work of Turner. In fact, U.S. art critics referred to Hamilton as the American Turner, a sobriquet that in time they applied to Moran. It was perhaps Hamilton who encouraged the Moran brothers to visit Great Britain to see Turner’s work firsthand. In 1861, Thomas and Edward traveled to England for that purpose and to sketch the sites portrayed by Turner in his work.[5] Turner, however, also traveled throughout Europe during his career, and depicted areas other than the British Isles. In 1866, Moran returned to Europe to visit not only England but also France and Italy,[6] and the drawings he created of the palaces of England and the architectural monuments of Italy informed his conception of the American West in the years to come.

—Sandra Pauly, Henry Luce Foundation Curatorial Scholar for Moran Collection Research, 2021

Click on any of the images below to learn more about Moran’s early artistic efforts and the various influences on his development as an artist. To learn more about the next phase of Moran’s career, see Thomas Moran: The West and the Business of Art.

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[1] Hansen, “Thomas Moran and Nineteenth-Century Printmaking,” 14.

[2] Hansen, “Thomas Moran and Nineteenth-Century Printmaking,” 14.

[3] Wilkins, Thomas Moran Artist of the Mountains, 18–19.

[4] Wilkins, Thomas Moran Artist of the Mountains, 20–21.

[5] Morand, Thomas Moran: The Field Sketches, 13, 18–23.

[6] Morand, Thomas Moran: The Field Sketches, 29–35.