The oldest of the artistic Moran brothers, Edward was born in Lancashire, England. His family moved to Baltimore in 1844 and then to Philadelphia the following year. He studied with James Hamilton, a Philadelphia marine painter, and landscape painter Paul Weber, before returning to England to study at the Royal Academy. In 1871, his exhibition entitled "Land and Sea" at James S. Earle and Sons Galleries in Philadelphia established Moran as a leading maritime painter. He moved to New York that year. In the late 1870s he studied figure painting in Paris and painted landscapes along the French coast. In 1885 he began an important series of 13 maritime paintings of American historical events, including the debarkation of Columbus and Henry Hudson entering New York Bay.
