The Resounding Sea 1886

Thomas Moran made this etching, The Resounding Sea, at an unknown date. It presents a scene of rough seas with a small sailing ship and a steamship battling the waves in the distance. The image is evocative of the 19th-century fascination with nature's power and humanity’s struggle against it, something that goes hand in hand with the expansion of shipping and overseas trade at the time. Consider the institutional context; this work isn't a painting for a wealthy patron, it's a print. The democratized medium of etching allowed for wider circulation of Moran's vision of the sea. Prints like this one reflect a growing middle class with an interest in art that mirrored their own experiences and anxieties about the natural world. What did maritime trade and naval power mean to the US at the time? Was this about progress, or about the conflict of humans against nature? Historians consult shipping records, trade statistics, and other visual culture from the period to gain a better sense of the relationship between art, society, and the prevailing ideas of the time.