"Fiercely the red sun descending/Burned his way along the heavens"

Artist Thomas Moran American, born Great Britain, 1837–1926

Date1875–1876

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions33 3/8 x 50 1/16 in. (84.8 x 127.2 cm)
Frame: 40 1/8 x 56 7/8 in. (101.9 x 144.5 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest)

Object number52.9.34

On View

On view

Provenance**Created United States, 1875–1876; collection of the artist; sold to Edwin Eugene Howell, Washington, D.C.; bequeathed to children, Anne Howell Condit and Ralph W. Howell, 1911; bequeathed to Mrs. Ralph H. Howell [1]; bequeathed to Mrs. Dale Condit, 1950; [Macbeth Gallery, New York]; sold to NCMA, 1952.

[1] Later Mrs. Clifford Stokes.

Published ReferencesU. S. Centennial Commission, International Exhibition 1876, Official Catalogue (Philadelphia: John R. Nagle & Co., 1876), listed under Dept. IV Art, United States, Oil Painting, no. 301b (as "Fiercely the red sun descending burned his way along the heavens"). Frank H. Norton, Illustrated Historical Register of the Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia, 1876, and of the Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1878 (New York: America News Co., 1879), noted 204. "The Paintings at Library Hall," Newark (N.J.) Daily Advertiser (December 3, 1881), 2. American Paintings to 1900: Catalogue of Paintings, Vol. 1, 2nd ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1966), no. 43, illus. (b-w) (titled Marine Sunset). Charles W. Stanford, Jr., Selections from British and American Painting and Sculpture (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1967), no. 30, illus. (color) (titled Marine Sunset). Nina Kasanof, "American Landscapes of the 19th Century in the North Carolina Museum of Art," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 8, no. 4 (June 1969), 2–15, discussed 8–9, illus. (b-w) fig. 7 (titled Marine Sunset). Robert F. Phifer Collection (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1973), 56, illus. (b-w) 57. American Paintings from the Collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art (brochure) (Charlotte: Mint Museum of Art, 1975), no. 27 (titled Marine Sunset). American Paintings from the Permanent Collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art (exhibition catalogue) (Asheville: Asheville Art Museum, 1976), listed (with artist's bio.) 22, illus. (b-w) 23. J. Gray Sweeney, Great Lakes Marine Painting of the Nineteenth Century (exhibition catalogue) (Muskegon, MI: Muskegon Museum of Art, 1983), discussed 46 (noted as "lost") Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 248. Cynthia D. Nickerson, "Artistic Interpretations of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha," American Art Journal 16 (Summer 1984), 49–77, discussed 57, illus. (b-w) fig. 9 J. Gray Sweeney, Artists of Michigan from the Nineteenth Century (exhibition catalogue) (Muskegon: Muskegon Museum of Art, 1987), discussed 35–36, illus. (color) cover pl. 5. J. Gray Sweeney, Masterpieces of Western American Art (New York: Mallard Press, 1991), 108, illus. (color). Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (color) 236. Joni Louise Kinsey, Thomas Moran and the Surveying of the American West (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993), discussed 28, illus. (b-w) fig. 9. Nancy K. Anderson, Thomas Moran (exhibition catalogue) (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1997), cat. no. 50, illus. (color). Richard P. Townsend, "'A Lasting Impression': Thomas Moran's Artistic Dialogue with J.M.W. Turner," In J.M.W. Turner: "That Greatest of Landscape Painters," Richard P. Townsend, ed. (Tulsa: The Philbrook Museum of Art, 1998), 22–23, illus. (color) 23 (as Fiercely the Red Sun Descending Burned His Way across the Heavens). Wilton, Andrew, "Thomas Moran," Apollo 148 (July 1998), 50–51. John W. Coffey, entry for "Fiercely the red sun descending/Burned his way along the heavens," in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 203, illus. (color). Andrew Wilton and Tim Barringer, American Sublime: Landscape Painting in the United States, 1820–-1880 (exhibition catalogue) (London: Tate Publishing, 2002), cat. no. 97, pp. 33, 34, 50, 185, 229, 241, 244, 246–47, illus. (color) 247. John Updike, “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies,” in Still Looking: Essays on American Art (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 43–44, illus. (color) 44. Hardy S. George, “A Search for the ‘Turneresque’ in Nineteenth-Century Storm Painting,” in Tempests and Romantic Visionaries: Images of Storms in European and American Art (exhibition catalogue) (Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 2006), briefly discussed 72, illus. (b-w) 73, fig. 20 (catalogue only, not in exhibition). Franklin Kelly, “Turner and America,” in J. M. W. Turner, Ian Warrell, ed. (exhibition catalogue) (London: Tate Publishing, 2007), discussed and illus. (color) 240, fig. 47 (catalogue only, not in exhibition). David Gariff, et al, The World’s Most Influential Painters, and the Artists they Inspired (London: Quarto, 2008), briefly discussed and illus. (color)105. “Highlights of the American Collection,” in North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Spring 2009), briefly discussed and illus. (color) 7. John W. Coffey, entry for “Fiercely the red sun descending/Burned his way along the heavens,” in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 424, illus. (color) 425. Christine Riding and Richard Johns, Turner & the Sea (exhibition catalogue), (London: Thames & Hudson, 2014), cat. no. 133, discussed and illus. (color) 261. Kimberly Orcutt, Power and Posterity: American Art at Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition (University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2017), mentioned and illus. (color) 122, fig. 47. Daniel Finamore and George H. Schwartz, “Voyages: Witnessing, Painting, Mythologizing,” in In American Waters: The Sea in American Painting (exhibition catalogue), Daniel Finamore and Austen Barron Bailly, eds. (Fayetteville, AK: University of Arkansas Press, 2021), cat. no. 56, discussed 172, illus. (color) 174–175, fig. 98. Nicole Stockburger, "Wind" in “You Are the River: Literature Inspired by the North Carolina Museum of Art,” edited by Helena Feder (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2021), illus (color) 112.

Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, "Centennial Exhibition," May 10–November 10, 1876, listed under Dept. IV Art, United States, Oil Paintings, no. 301b (as "Fiercely the red sun descending, burned his way along (sic) the heavens”). Newark, NJ, Upper Library Hall, “Fifth Annual Exhibition of Paintings,” December 3–17, 1881, no. 125. [Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, n. d.] Birmingham, AL, Birmingham Museum of Art, "Works of Art Lent by Southern Museums," April 18–June 15, 1959, no. 23. Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Robert F. Phifer Collection," March 31–May 13, 1973, 56, illus. (b-w) 57. Charlotte, NC, Mint Museum of Art, "American Paintings from the Collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art," September 7–October 19, 1975, no. 27. Asheville, NC, Asheville Museum of Art, "American Paintings from the Permanent Collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art," May 16–June 27, 1976, p. 22, illus. (b-w). Muskegon, MI, Muskegon Museum of Art, "Artists of Michigan from the Nineteenth Century," September 17–November 1, 1987; Detroit, MI, DetroitHistorical Museum, November 15, 1987-March 6, 1988, unnumbered, illus. (color) cover, pl. 5. Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, “Thomas Moran,” September 28, 1997–January 11, 1998; Tulsa, OK, Gilcrease Museum, February 8–May 10, 1998; Seattle, WA, Seattle Art Museum, June 11–August 30, 1998, cat. no. 50, illus. (color). London, Tate Britain, “American Sublime,” February 20–May 19, 2002; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, June 17–August 25, 2002; Minneapolis, Institute of Fine Arts, September 22– November 17, 2002, cat. no. 97, pp. 33, 34, 50, 185, 229, 241, 244, 246–47, illus. (color) 247. Wilmington, NC, Louise Wells Cameron Art Museum, “18th and 19th Century American Art from the Collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art,” June 20, 2003–February 22, 2004. Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, Highlights of the American Collection, February 15–August 2, 2009. Salem, MA, Peabody Essex Museum, “Turner and the Sea,” May 31–September 1, 2014, cat. no. 133, illus. (color). Salem, MA, Peabody Essex Museum, "In American Waters: The Sea in American Painting," May 29–October 3, 2021; Bentonville, AK, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, November 6, 2021–January 31, 2022, cat. no. 56, illus. (color). Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present.

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