Charles Herbert Moore facts for kids

Charles Herbert Moore (born April 10, 1840 – died February 15, 1930) was an American professor, artist, and expert on old buildings. He is famous for being the first director of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. Moore was inspired by the ideas of John Ruskin and was part of a group called the American Pre-Raphaelites.

In 1871, he stopped painting to teach art at Harvard, where he helped start a new art department. He was one of the first people to teach art history at a university in the United States. After he retired, Moore moved to England and wrote many books about old buildings from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. He passed away in England in 1930.

Early Life and Art Beginnings

Charles Moore was born on April 10, 1840, in New York City. He was the first of nine children. His parents, Charles Moore and Jane Maria Berendtson, were very religious. His father was a Quaker, and his mother was a Swedenborgian. Charles went to public schools in New York City and did not go to college.

In the 1850s, Moore started learning to paint landscapes. He took lessons in New York City. By 1858, he began showing his paintings at the National Academy of Design. In 1862, he became an associate member of this important art organization.

Moore started reading the works of John Ruskin, a famous art critic. Ruskin's ideas greatly influenced Moore. In 1859, Moore rented a studio in New York City. That same year, he visited the Catskill Mountains for the first time. The next year, he showed his painting In the Catskills at the academy.

In 1861, Moore left his New York City studio and moved to Catskill, New York. He rented a studio from Theodore Cole, whose father was the famous artist Thomas Cole. At this time, Moore was considered a smaller member of the Hudson River School art movement, which focused on painting beautiful American landscapes.

Joining the Pre-Raphaelites

In 1863, Charles Moore helped start a group called the Society for the Advancement of Truth in Art. This group was short-lived, but it focused on the Pre-Raphaelite tradition. This art style aimed for very truthful and realistic paintings. Moore's art began to follow this style, and he became known as a Pre-Raphaelite artist.

He wanted to share Ruskin's and the Pre-Raphaelite ideas. He applied to teach drawing at Vassar College. From 1865 to 1869, Moore created a major winter painting in oil each year. He also made six detailed oil landscapes, along with still lifes and nature studies using pencil and oil paint.

In July 1865, Moore married Mary Jane Tomlinson. They moved into a small house near Catskill, New York. They lived there all year until the fall of 1871. Their home was close to Thomas Cole's house and across the Hudson River from Frederic Church's home, Olana.

Around 1866, Moore became an early member of the American Watercolor Society.

Teaching at Harvard University

In 1871, Charles Moore was asked to teach drawing at the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He moved to Cambridge with his wife that year.

Moore was the first art professor at Harvard. Charles Eliot Norton, who was also a professor, had suggested Moore for the job. From 1876 to 1878, Moore took time off to study in Italy. There, he studied with John Ruskin again. They sketched buildings, talked about art, and looked at paintings by famous old artists.

In 1880, Moore's first wife passed away. He then married Elizabeth Fisk Hewins the next year. Around 1890, Moore traveled to France to study its architecture, especially the Gothic style.

In 1891, Moore became an assistant professor at Harvard. He also received an honorary Master of Arts degree. In 1895, when the Fogg Art Museum opened at Harvard, Moore became a curator there. The next year, he became a full professor and the first director of the Fogg Art Museum. He worked there until 1909.

Retirement and Later Life

Charles Moore retired in 1909 and was given the title Professor Emeritus at Harvard. That year, he moved to Hartley Wintney in Hampshire, England. During his retirement, Moore wrote many books about buildings from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. He passed away in Hartley Wintney on February 15, 1930.

Moore was an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Images for kids

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  Mount Washington, 1872, watercolor on cream wove paper, 16 x 23 cm, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey

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  Winter Landscape, Valley of the Catskill, 1866, oil on canvas, 18 x 26 cm, Princeton University Art Museum

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  Moore's painting of Thomas Cole's house, the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, exhibited there