A Life Along the Mississippi Born in Ireland in 1810, John J. Egan eventually found his way to the United States, settling in the growing landscape of St. Louis, Missouri. While the specifics of his early training remain obscured by time, his presence in the mid-19th century was defined by a specific, large-scale ambition. He was a painter of panoramas, a medium that required both a steady hand and a sense of grand scale to capture the sweeping movements of the American frontier. His work was deeply intertwined with the scientific and archaeological interests of his era. He collaborated with…