Born in Strathaven, Scotland, Mary Nimmo Moran immigrated with her family to the United States when she was ten. The artist returned to visit her birthplace in 1882 and created this etching, Cochrane’s o’the Craig, Strathaven, which is perhaps evocative of childhood memories of thatched-roofed cottages on the banks of the Avon Water.¹ Her husband, artist Thomas Moran (1837–1926), accompanied her on this trip, and his etching depicting Strathaven Castle (14.393c) shows the area from a different point of view.

In Nimmo Moran’s etching, an open path in the lower right invites us into the scene, then over a bridge to a group of sturdy dwellings tucked into the bend of the waterway and sheltered under mature trees. In her husband’s work we see the crumbling ruins of a once stately castle, with young trees reclaiming the site and a nearby road overgrown with grasses. Although the couple portray very different Strathaven domiciles, both etchings suggest their creators were nostalgic for an idealized past, far removed from modern industrialized life.

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

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¹ Vittoria, “Nature and Nostalgia in the Art of Mary Nimmo Moran,” 28–29. The Avon Water runs through Strathaven, which is about twenty-five miles southeast of Glasgow. The exact location of Cochrane’s o’the Craig remains unknown. Nimmo Moran produced two additional etchings on this trip to Europe in 1882, which are in the Gilcrease collection: A Glimpse of Conwy (14.90a) and Conwy Castle (14.66a).

Etching with sandpaper ground and drypoint, early state. Sandra Pauly, Henry Luce Foundation Curatorial Scholar for Moran Collection Research 3.28.22