Thomas Moran was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England in 1837, but emigrated, with his family to the United States at age seven, settling in Philadelphia. Though he received no formal art training, he was an apprentice to a wood engraver in his teens and received much encouragement and advice from the Philadelphia-based painter James Hamilton. He also studied with his older brother, Edward, a marine and historical painter, whose studio he shared. Moran became a western artist after working as an illustrator for magazines including Harper's and Scribner's. In 1871, he was invited to accompany Ferdinand V. Hayden's Geological Survey Expedition to the Yellowstone Territory. Moran's paintings of Yellowstone's geysers, hot springs, canyons and cliffs, combined with the photographs taken by pioneer photographer William Henry Jackson, played a major role in convincing Congress to make the region a national park in 1872. After the Yellowstone trip, Moran's career as an expedition artist and painter blossomed. He continued to travel with subsequent Hayden surveys and painted Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon as well as other wilderness regions for the next forty years. Amongst the sites he visited were the Teton Mountains in Wyoming, whose peak Dr. Hayden had named Mount Moran in his honor.