PLEIN AIR HERITAGE
Thomas Moran traveled west in 1871 to create the plein air oils and watercolors that helped establish his career and identify his work with the growing network of national parks. He became so closely associated with Yellowstone that he added the letter “Y” to his initials when signing paintings (TYM, for Thomas Yellowstone Moran). But before heading west, Moran explored the landscape of the Eastern United States, including pastoral scenes along the rivers that course their way through Pennsylvania. In the summer of 1864, Moran was apparently commissioned by George Frederick Tyler to paint this scene along the Juniata River, a major tributary of the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He added a plein air painter on a rock ledge above the river, presumably a self-portrait that shows Moran working on…