A Catskill Landscape
c. 1858
19th Century
10 1/4 in. x 16 1/8 in.
Frederic E Church,
American,
(1826–1900)
Medium and Support:
oil on canvas
Credit Line:
Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company
Accession Number:
2002.1.31
During a period when the eminent landscape painter Frederic Church was seeking out sublime views of volcanoes, icebergs, and rainforests for his paintings, "A Catskill Landscape" may seem a tame subject. When Church visited the Catskills with his new bride in 1860, the area was already a fashionable resort. Sightseeing tourists enjoyed “sunrising,” gathering early in the morning to meditate on the panoramic view from hilltop vantage points. Church’s treatment of the scene accentuates the dramatic aspects of the wild foliage and distant mountains by lighting them with a blazing atmospheric effect. His scientific study of nature helped Church achieve a likeness so convincing that viewers thrilled to be transported to his wild locales.
This painting was a wedding present from Church to Lucretia Titus when she married William Harmon Brown in 1860.