N I D A R O S - D O M E N

“Frederic Edwin Church was a dominant figure in the second generation of the Hudson River School. His canvases celebrated the drama of the American frontier and expressed the expansionist and optimistic outlook of the United States in the mid-nineteenth century.

The Andes of Ecuador, 48 x 75 inches Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem

“Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Church was the son of a wealthy businessman. He received his early art training from local painters Benjamin Hutchins Coe and Alexander Hamilton Emmons. In 1844, with the helpof the art patron Daniel Wadsworth, he became the first pupil of the famous Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole.

“Church gradually began to take a more scientific approach to nature, using sketches he had created in the outdoors in the preparation of his canvases. In 1853, he became the first American artist to visit South America. Accompanying Cyrus Field, who later gained renown for his participation in the transatlantic cable project, Church followed Humboldt’s 1802 route from Colombia to Ecuador. Along the way, Church drew from nature, producing the drawings that became the basis for important canvases depicting exotic subjects such as The Cordilleras: Sunrise.

The Cordilleras: Sunrise

“When his works received high praise, Church set off on a second expedition in 1857. On this sojourn, he traveled to Ecuador with the landscape painter Louis Rémy Mignot. It was on this trip that he was able to concentrate on the scenery of the Andes, and he filled diaries and sketchbooks with records of the vegetation and the countryside. Characterized by vast vistas and atmospheric detail, the works that resulted from this sojourn demonstrate Church’s unique approach. Among the great triumphs of the artist’s career was Heart of the Andes (1859; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), in which Church captured the essence of the tropics. Another significant product of this period in the artist’s career was Niagara (1857; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), which established Church as the leading interpreter of the American spirit.”

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Syria by the sea

Mount Katahdin from Millinocket Camp

Twilight wilderness

Aurora Borealis

nidarosdomen

# Frederic Edwin Church (1826 – 1900), american painter