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In 1853 Church embarked on an expedition to South America staying predominantly in Ecuador, following in Humboldt’s steps. During the trip he executed drawings and oil sketches of mountains, trees, and plants in the manner of a true naturalist. He later made use of these works for the large-scale compositions that he produced in his studio.
Church painted South American Landscape in his New York studio two years after his return from Ecuador. It is an imaginary synthesis of different motifs that the artist had previously recorded in his drawings and oil sketches, including a distant view of the distant mountain range and figures boating along the river in the midground.
Exhibition HistoryHirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1971
ProvenanceHamilton Potter, Smithtown, New York, 1970
[with] Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1971
Private collection, New York, 1971
By descent to the present owner
Sotheby's, New York, 2023
Artist
Frederic Edwin Church
(American, 1826 - 1900)
South American Landscape
Datec. 1856
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsFramed: 39 1/4 × 34 5/16 × 4 1/4 in. (99.7 × 87.2 × 10.8 cm)
Sight: 29 7/16 × 24 9/16 in. (74.8 × 62.4 cm)
Object numberN0008.2024(02)
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextFrederic Edwin Church was one of the great American artists of the 19th century. A pupil of the celebrated American landscape painter Thomas Cole, Church’s study of the work of the English art theoretician John Ruskin and the German geographer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt encouraged him to pursue his own direction in art in which science, art and religion were combined.In 1853 Church embarked on an expedition to South America staying predominantly in Ecuador, following in Humboldt’s steps. During the trip he executed drawings and oil sketches of mountains, trees, and plants in the manner of a true naturalist. He later made use of these works for the large-scale compositions that he produced in his studio.
Church painted South American Landscape in his New York studio two years after his return from Ecuador. It is an imaginary synthesis of different motifs that the artist had previously recorded in his drawings and oil sketches, including a distant view of the distant mountain range and figures boating along the river in the midground.
Exhibition HistoryHirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1971
ProvenanceHamilton Potter, Smithtown, New York, 1970
[with] Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1971
Private collection, New York, 1971
By descent to the present owner
Sotheby's, New York, 2023
On View
On view
c. 1990
