Additional Information
This work will be included in Stephen L. Good’s and Phyllis Braff’s forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist’s work.
Sketches he did on a 1903 trip to Mexico, which included a stop at the Borda Gardens in Cuernavaca almost certainly provided Thomas Moran with the material for In the Borda Gardens, Cuernavaca, Mexico, a romantic work with a tropical feel. The Borda Gardens had been part of Emperor Maximilian’s summer home. Canals and walkways threaded through the verdure. In this painting, a couple, having descended a staircase, contemplates yellow light that spills onto the water. Per an inscription verso, this painting may have been intended for Chicago art dealer J. G. Moulton, but went directly from Moran to Thomas D. Murphy.