Peter Moran

As the youngest of the four Moran brothers, Peter Moran moved to the United States in 1844 at the age of three. He grew up and permanently settled in Philadelphia where he maintained a studio throughout his life. For a short time, he was apprenticed to the Herline and Hersel lithographic firm but left in order to study under his brothers, Edward and Thomas, who already were established artists. Moran traveled to England in 1863 to study with Edwin Landseer but was not impressed with his work. He soon returned to Philadelphia, and, in 1864, he made the first of many trips west. He traveled to New Mexico and Arizona several times and sketched the Sierras and Grand Tetons on a trip with his brother, Thomas, in 1879. In 1890, Moran served as a special agent for the United States Bureau of the Census and illustrated the Indians Taxed and Indians Not Taxed report.

While Thomas's paintings are romanticized, Peter Moran's work has a more documentary style. Reportorial sketches, paintings, and etchings of animals and occasional landscapes make up his extensive oeuvre, and he was greatly influenced by Rosa Bonheur and Constant Troyon. Like most American printmakers of the late nineteenth century, he was also influenced by the French experts of this medium, especially Charles Jacque. Moran belonged to the New York Society of Etchers, Philadelphia Arts and Crafts Guild, and Philadelphia Society of Etchers, and he showed etchings at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition and the 1876 American Water Color Society Exhibition. His work can be viewed at the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, the Parrish Art Museum, and the Peabody Institute.