Hunter and Fleeing Deer
1826 to 1850
Medium
graphite with blue wash on wove paper
Dimensions
sheet: 11.4 × 12 cm (4 1/2 × 4 3/4 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
John Davis Hatch Collection
Accession Number
1984.7.84
Art Historical Context
Thomas Moran's *Hunter and Fleeing Deer*, created between 1826 and 1850, is a captivating small-scale drawing executed in graphite with blue wash onove paper, measuring just11.4 × 12 cm. This intimate work captures a tense moment in nature: a hunter in pursuit of a leaping deer, rendered with swift, economical lines that convey motion and urgency. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's John Davis Hatch Collection (Department CG-W), it exemplifies the artist's early mastery of draftsmanship on a portable scale. Moran, a prominent figure in the Hudson River School and later celebrated for his ...
About the Artist
Thomas Moran · 1837–1926
Thomas Moran (1837–1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School whose dramatic paintings of the American West played a pivotal role in the creation of the national parks. Born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, he emigrated with his family to Philadelphia as a child. He was largely self-taught, though he apprenticed briefly with a wood engraver and studied the work of J.M.W...