Thomas Moran

The younger brother of marine painter Edward Moran, Thomas was born in Bolton, England. He began his career as an apprentice in a Philadelphia wood-engraving firm and studied with James Hamilton. By the late 1860s, he was part of the Hudson River School of painters and had become chief illustrator for Scribner's Monthly. In 1871 he traveled west with the United States Geological Survey, and his majestic yet detailed renderings helped convince the government to create Yellowstone National Park.