Thomas Moran’s Rural Scene of Trees and Pond is just 3 1/4 by 6 3/8 inches, but contains a detail-laden world within its semicircle-shaped borders. We encounter a ground-level point of view, from which we can explore the various plant life thriving under the trees and at the water’s edge. We do not see the crowning foliage of the trees, but rather are treated to a view of their trunks and lower branches, through which we glimpse a mountain in the distance.

The unusual point of view and the arched format of this print is similar to that utilized by Moran’s fellow Philadelphian, the American Pre-Raphaelite William Trost Richards (1833–1905). Moran was not officially part of this movement, whose members were the most literal interpreters of the British art critic John Ruskin’s “truth to nature” philosophy. Although initially receptive to the principles of Pre-Raphaelitism, Moran as he matured created compositions to capture the spirit of the place rather than adhering to the meticulous, almost scientific accuracy of the American Pre-Raphaelites.¹

To create Rural Scene of Trees and Pond, Moran used a printmaking technique known as cliché-verre, which combined etching with a photographic process, although no camera was required. The artist used an etching needle to draw on a glass plate coated with a thick collodion mixture, which was then placed facedown on sensitized paper and exposed to light. The light passed through the lines, transferring the drawing to the paper, which was then developed.² Although it is unclear where Moran learned the technique, his brother John (1831–1902) was a photographer and could have supplied the needed photographic materials and knowledge.³

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

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¹ Foster, “The Pre-Raphaelite Medium,” 99–102; and the catalogue entries for Richards and Moran in Ferber and Gerdts, The New Path, 214–28, 273–75.
² Friese in Morand and Friese, The Prints of Thomas Moran, 41.
³ Bruhn, “Printmaker ‘of the First Rank,’” 286. John Moran established a photographic studio in Philadelphia in 1859.