Apple Orchard
1878
19th Century
18 in. x 28 in.
Nelson A. Moore,
American,
(1824–1902)
Medium and Support:
oil on canvas
Credit Line:
Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company
Accession Number:
2002.1.96
A native of Kensington, Connecticut, N. A. Moore—as he was known professionally—ran a flourishing daguerreotype studio in Hartford for several years, but gave it up in order to work full time as a landscape painter. The deliberate attention to detail in "Apple Orchard" may reflect the artist’s past experience with photography.
Although "Apple Orchard" likely depicts the area around Kensington, Moore supplemented his income by traveling each summer to Lake George. There, tourists ordered large versions, to be delivered later, of the artist’s small oil sketches. If he received enough orders, Moore returned to Kensington for the winter to complete his commissions. If not, he and his son, the artist E. A. Moore, worked in various Connecticut cities, as well as in New York, Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis. N. A. Moore also served his Connecticut clients from a studio in Hartford.