This
monumental work of the Grand Canyon is the second of Moran's paintings
to be purchased by the government. It was displayed in the halls
of Congress along with his famous Yellowstone painting. John
Wesley Powell, the first to explore the Grand Canyon, was responsible
for convincing Moran that he must see and paint the canyon.
Powell, who knew the canyon better than anyone, from the river and rim,
gushed with praise when saw Moran's finished painting:
"It
required a bold hand to wield the brush for such a subject. Moran
has represented the depth and magnitudes and distances and forms and
color and clouds with great fidelity, but his picture not only tells
the truth. The somber shadow in the foreground, the light in the
distance, the great clouds that roll in the gulches, the cloudlets that
hide in the chasms and creep along the face of the cliffs -- all of
these features and many others so are so arranged as to give a most
vivid and grand picture." --John Wesley Powell
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