Brief Biography-Thomas Moran was born in Lancashire, England, and his family emigrated to America in 1844. He began as an apprentice engraver in Philadelphia and became a mainly self-taught Landscape painter but took influence from James Hamilton and J.M.W. Turner. He travelled Europe with his wife but was not overly impressed by what art he encountered. In America, they lived in New Jersey. He joined the Hudson River School and went on trips through Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, sketching and painting landscapes. He achieved considerable success with his western views and eventually settled in Santa Barbara, California. He died at the ripe age of 89 in 1926.