| The
Mount of the Holy Cross was first discovered in the late 1860s and
since has attracted considerable interest because of its religious
symbolism. During the summer, snow tends to remain in shaded
features of the mountain, and viewed from the right angle, it appears
as a thin white cross. During the 1920s and 30s, hundreds of
religious pilgrims came to see the mountain. Moran's paintings
very likely added to the mountain's popularity. He first traveled
to the mountain, long before the pilgrimages began, in 1874. He
started with a watercolor, did an oil version (shown) above in 1875,
eventually completing four paintings of the mountain. While the
general shape of the mountain is correct, the topography is a bit
disjointed. Moran shows a rushing stream in the foreground, but,
in reality, only part of the mountain can be seen from the stream,
certainly not the cross. But, alas, photo perfection was not his
purpose. Moran fully admitted that he didn't paint
literally. He was an artist, an interpreter of landscapes, each
brush stroke a measured balance between the real and the imagined. |
