What could be more inviting on a summer day than to find a shady spot to rest under a canopy of tree branches? In Summer on the Susquehanna, Thomas Moran used cool blues and deep greens to create a tranquil, restful scene warmed by the sun. Almost obscured in the thick grasses is a figure with a fishing pole heading toward the river, which can be glimpsed in the distance. A path opens up before him, zigzagging around the fallen tree and then out onto the sun-drenched shore.

This peaceful view was created, however, at a time when the United States was engaged in the Civil War (1861–65). The majority of Moran’s work from the early 1860s does not address the upheaval of a nation at war with itself; rather, the artist produced escapist landscapes such as Summer on the Susquehanna that could provide a momentary respite for those who were weary of conflict.¹ Although Moran neither enlisted nor was drafted, he donated some of his paintings to Philadelphia’s 1864 Great Central Fair, which was organized to raise funds to aid sick and wounded Union soldiers. Moran also served as a volunteer member of the fair’s Fine Arts Committee, charged with soliciting paintings from artists and collectors for auction. More than one thousand paintings were donated, and the event raised $1 million, all of which was used to buy medical supplies for the Union.²

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

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¹ The most notable exception is Moran’s Slave Hunt, Dismal Swamp, Virginia (1861–62, Philbrook Museum of Art, 1947.8.44).
² Wilkins, Thomas Moran: Artist of the Mountains, 48; and Anderson et al., Thomas Moran, 189, 352.