Downingtown Birthed the Talent of Famous 19th-Century Artist

He liked to fish along the quiet banks of Brandywine Creek in the Quaker days of the 19th century, but what young Samuel Moon caught in those hours of serenity was a vision for sketching life.

Born in 1805 to Quaker settlers who came from Wales, Moon quickly impressed with his artistic talents when he drew “life-like images of congregants at Quaker meetings in Downingtown,” according to a column in The Doylestown Intelligencer by Carl LaVO.

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He later painted astonishingly accurate reproductions of famous masterpieces like Jacques-Louis David’s “Napoleon Crossing the Alps” and Giovanni Guercino’s “Resurrection of Lazarus.”

While he also produced oil paintings of religious scenes, landscapes, portraits, and copies of famous artwork, Moon ultimately left his mark on the world as a famous Philadelphia-area portraitist, occasionally making his way back to Chester County to paint for wealthy families.

Read more about the artist Samuel Moon and his early inspirations in and around Downingtown more than two centuries ago in The Doylestown Intelligencer here.

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