Object number1864.1.18
Summer in South America
Datec. 1853
Artist
Frederic Edwin Church
(American, 1826-1900)
CultureAmerican
MediumOil on board
DimensionsUnframed: 11 x 16 15/16 in. (28 x 43 cm)
Framed: 16 1/8 x 22 1/16 x 2 3/8 in. (41 x 56 x 6 cm)
Framed: 16 1/8 x 22 1/16 x 2 3/8 in. (41 x 56 x 6 cm)
Credit LineGift of Matthew Vassar
On View
On viewPeriod19th c
Classification(s)
SignedSigned lower right: F. Church
BibliographyFoshay, Ella M., and Sally Mills. All Seasons and Every Light: Nineteenth Century American Landscapes from the Collection of Elias Lyman Magoon. Poughkeepsie, N.Y: Vassar College Art Gallery, 1983, p. 41;
Harvey, Eleanor Jones. The Painted Sketch : American Impressions from Nature, 1830-1880. Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art in association with H.N. Abrams, 1998, fig. 47;
Koenig, Monica Anke. America and the Grand Tour: Sanford Robinson Gifford at Home and Abroad. Poughkeepsie, N.Y: Vassar College Art Gallery, 1991;
Nobuyuki, Okabe. Paris--New York; Modern Paintings in 19th and 20th Century Master Works from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College. Japan: Yamagata Museum of Art, 2008, cat. no. 8 ProvenanceCollections: Elias MagoonVassar Exhibitions
Exhibition HistoryThe Hudson River School, American Federation of Arts - New York State Council on the Arts, January 1962 - January 1963 OR November 19 - December 16, 1962;The Painted Sketch : American Impressions from Nature, 1830-1880, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, June 21 - September 20, 1998; the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., October 11, 1998 - January 10, 1999; the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA., February 6 - May 9, 1999;
All Seasons and Every Light, Vassar College Art Gallery, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, October 14 - December 16, 1983; DeCordova and Dana Museum and Park, Lincoln, MA, February 5 - March 25, 1984; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL, March 25 - July 1, 1984; Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, November 16, 1984 - January 13, 1985;
America and the Grand Tour: Sanford Robinson Gifford at Home and Abroad, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY, April 17 - June 9, 1991;
Paris--New York; Modern Paintings in 19th and 20th Century Master Works from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, Shimane Art Museum, Matsue, Japan, March 7 - May 11, 2008; Ishibashi Museum of Art, Kurume, Japan, May 17 - July 20, 2008; Yamagata Museum of Art, Yamagata, Japan, July 30 - August 31, 2008; Fuchu Art Museum, Fuchu, Japan, September 6 - November 3, 2008; Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum, Miyazaki, Japan, November 14 - December 14, 2008
Label TextOne of the most well-known and talented painters of the Hudson River School, Frederic Church executed a large number of drawings and small oil studies that were used as a storehouse of images for monumental landscape paintings exhibited in New York. Sharing his mentor Thomas Cole's twin passions for art and science, Church followed in the footsteps of German geologist and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, reading the latter's eloquent writings, and hiking and sketching along the same unspoiled volcanic regions of South America, especially Ecuador. This small painting, probably executed on his first trip to Ecuador, pictures the Magdalena River of Colombia and the peak of a snow-covered volcano in the distance.
DescriptionAn intimate landscape with a body of water at center left bordered by dense forests and a mountain in the background. In the foreground along the bank are two animals and across the water is a small sailing vessel. The yellow light of the sky bathes the scene in warmth while the pink clouds dotting the sky above echo the hues seen in the mountain below.
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