Thomas Moran (Born on 12th February, 1837) was born in Bolton, England, near Manchester, the place of birth of the Industrial Revolution. Many generations of their family worked as weavers of handloom in Bolton until the power looms were introduced and they radically changed the industry. In 1842, he traveled to America to seek for an opportunity in public education in America for his children and also an economic opportunity for himself in this new land. The following year his children and wife joined him, and they settled in Kensington as a reunited family. In this suburb of Philadelphia, they became part of an entrenched community of immigrant textile workers. When he was still a teenager, Moran became an engraving apprentice at a Philadelphia firm of Telfer and Scattergood. After 3 years he left his apprenticeship and began working in a studio belonging to his older brother called Edward.
His brother had begun to establish himself as a marine painter. Serving a second apprenticeship, in effect, he benefited from both the advice of Edward and also from that of Hamilton James, a renowned painter in Philadelphia who had befriended Edward. His reputation established, the artist continued to travel widely during the following years. He returned to Europe many times again following Turner’s trails. In 1883, he traveled to Mexico and in later years, he went back to the Grand Canyon. Moran traveled more extensively in New Mexico and Arizona, and produced a number of outstanding works of the pueblos at Laguna and Acoma.
