Thomas Moran (1837-1926)
Three Mile Harbor
signed and dated 'TMoran. 1888' with overlapping TM (lower right)
oil on canvas
20 x 30 in. (51.0 x 76.2 cm)
framed 28 x 38 x 2 3/4 inches.
Footnotes:
Provenance
A private collection, Connecticut.

N.B.
This work is included in the forthcoming Thomas Moran Catalogue Raisonné edited by Phyllis Braff, Stephen L. Good and Melissa Speidel.

We would like to thank Phyllis Braff for her kind help cataloging this lot. Dr. Braff confirmed that this scene corresponds to the Three Mile Harbor site which was very close to Moran's home and studio on Long Island, and that is where he was residing in the spring and summer of 1888.

In 1872, Moran moved from Philadelphia to the New York City area, and in 1878 first traveled to eastern Long Island. He fell in love with the Long Island landscape, buying property in East Hampton in 1882. His paintings of this area are generally small in scale and pastoral in spirit, as is seen in Three Mile Harbor. Interestingly, the actual Three Mile Harbor is neither three miles long nor three miles wide or deep. It is so named because the harbor is three miles from the village of East Hampton. In his painting, Moran depicts figures quietly fishing from a dock, a sailboat in the marsh at low tide, and cattle watering in the distance. The scenery is green and lush, with grey clouds reflected in the water contributing to the overall feeling of serenity.