THOMAS MORAN (1837-1926)

In May 1886, Thomas Moran traveled to Venice for the first time. A popular subject of interest and nostalgia in the late nineteenth century, Venice was certainly already a familiar place for Moran through the writings of Lord Byron and John Ruskin and depictions by J.M.W. Turner. Nonetheless, he was amazed by the splendor of the place, writing to his wife Mary, "Venice is all, and more, than travelers have reported of it. It is wonderful. I shall make no attempt at description..." (as quoted in N.K. Anderson, et al., Thomas Moran, New Haven, 1997, p. 122). Upon his return, Moran immediately set to work on studio oils, and, from that point forward, he submitted a Venetian scene almost every year he exhibited at the National Academy. "The subject became his 'best seller'" (op. cit. Thomas Moran, p. 123).
In Glorious Venice, Moran depicts the floating city's distinctive convergence of dazzling architecture and bustling life on the harbor. The Doge's Palace glows in the distance at far right, while merchants, pedestrians and even an artist working from a boat at center lend themselves to the scene's vivaciousness.