This etching, one of a number of works titled “The Much Resounding Sea” by the artist Thomas Moran of East Hampton (1837-1926), was completed in 1886, two years after his similar but less detailed oil painting of the same name. The etching is a newer acquisition for the Long Island Collection, bought at auction in May.
The etching depicts a stormy sea, with a masted ship listing along the horizon. Closer to shore, a figure holding a lantern stands in a crowded rowboat. Along the shoreline, several figures gather in groups, some next to a flag and others around a harpoon-like hooked tool with rope. They appear to be part of rescue efforts.
This work illustrates how Moran frequently developed and combined smaller works into elements of his masterpieces. For this etching, Moran borrowed from smaller works in the Long Island Collection, like one titled “The Resounding Sea” and another etching, “The Rescuing Party.” The latter shows a smaller image of a listing, masted ship along with a tiny, crowded boat, like the rowboat visible in “The Much Resounding Sea.”
Moran’s full etching of “The Much Resounding Sea” also carries echoes of the cover of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper from Jan. 20, 1877, which showed survivors of the wreck of the Circassian off Mecox coming ashore, along with some of the lifesaving efforts undertaken for that shipwreck. Details of the violence of the ongoing storm, such as broken pieces of wood and ropes with pulleys, litter the shoreline among the would-be rescuers.
Moran made the etching using drypoint and roulette, for shading and tone, with sandpaper on Japan paper, signing the image in the bottom right corner in pencil. The 14-by-32-inch work is clearly one of Moran’s larger etchings. In person, the level of detail is all the more impressive, particularly when one realizes that every dot and line was created by Moran’s hand.
Andrea Meyer is the head of the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection.
