American Art Collaborative

Thomas Moran traveled to Cuba and Mexico in 1883, making many sketches of the landscape. In this image, we gaze through an archway of dark trees to a sunny hacienda on the banks of Lake Cuitzeo. In the foreground a lone figure sits in deep shadows by a pool of water. This intimate scene, which emphasizes the beauty and quietness of nature on a small scale, is very different from the dramatic panoramas of mountains and canyons that were Moran’s trademark