Thomas Moran chose a panoramic view to depict this glorious dawn over East Hampton, Long Island. This stunning vista includes broad flatlands and a calm waterway that stretch out to the horizon, where the rising sun breaks through the clouds. The road is worn and rutted, but as we take in the breathtaking scene before us, the prospect of our journey into the new day is a welcoming one.¹

The bridge in this etched work was also portrayed by Moran’s wife, the artist Mary Nimmo Moran (1842–1899), in her 1883 etching “Tween the Gloaming and the Mirk” (14.92f).² She presented the bridge from a low vantage point and made it the focus of her composition, every rickety slat of the structure recorded with care. The path that draws us into Nimmo Moran’s scene continues over the dilapidated bridge and then wends its way gently upward toward the buildings silhouetted on the horizon. It is sunset, and although we may be weary, our heart quickens as we anticipate arriving home just as the sun dips below the horizon.

The couple established a home and studio on East Hampton in 1884, but they visited the area on sketching trips as early as 1878. Once they finished their home, they spent most of the year on Long Island, moving back to a studio in New York City for several months every winter.³ East Hampton provided settings that inspired both artists, and they often depicted the same locales, each from their own unique perspective.

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

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¹ See also Moran’s sketch Hook Pond, E.H. (13.813), and his 1886 etching Morning (14.449c).
² Vittoria, “Nature and Nostalgia in the Art of Mary Nimmo Moran,” 234–35, 304–5.
³ Vittoria, “Nature and Nostalgia in the Art of Mary Nimmo Moran,” 181, 205.