Moses Pierce (active 1815 - 1821) first appeared in Portland, Maine, as a portrait painter in 1815. He was one of many men and a few women who followed the itinerate trail from Canada to the West Indies. What set Pierce apart is that he decided to establish a permanent gallery. Soon after he arrived, the artist moved to Brunswick where he spent a year "studying the most celebrated paintings in the Gallery at Bowdoin College." In 1918 he opened his own Gallery of Paintings on Middle Street in Portland. The artist moved on to New Hampshire and Vermont.