An Appreciation:
Frederic Church

 Frederic Edwin Church was a 19th century American artist. The first pupil of Thomas Cole, Church became the leader of the Hudson River School and took American landscape painting to a new level.

Church was born on May 4, 1826 in Hartford, Connecticut into an old New England family. His father Joseph Church had become wealthy through a number of occupations including being a silversmith and jewelry-maker, a banker and owner of a firm that made bonnets. Frederic had two sisters but no brothers who survived to adulthood.

Joseph wanted his son to join him in the family business. However, he indulged the boy's interest in art by hiring two local artists to give the boy lessons. When it became clear that Frederic's future lay in art, Joseph asked his friend, the art collector Daniel Wadsworth to arrange for Frederic to study under Thomas Cole, then the most prominent artist in America.

Frederic spent four years with Cole starting in 1848 studying both at Cedar Grove, Cole's farm/studio in Catskill, New York, and traveling with Cole around New York State and New England on sketching expeditions. Cole was very impressed with Church's draughtsmandship saying Church had "the finest eye for drawing in the world" . Church was very attracted to Cole's Romantic approach to Landscape painting and adopted a similar style.

Like Cole, Church would make detailed skteches of various scenes that he saw. He would then use these sketches as the basis for painting that he would create in the studio. The paintings often were based upon several sketches and sometimes the landscape depicted in the painting was a combination of a number of places that the artist had seen. Like the sketches, Church's paintings were detailed. He also liked dramatic lighting and color.

Both Cole and Church were devote Protestants. Both saw the hand of the divine in the beauty of nature. However, Church was less interested in allegory than Cole.

Having been the first student of the country's most popular artist ensured that Church would be noticed by the art establishment. However, his abilities were quickly recognized in their own right. He was the youngest person to become and associate of the National Academy of Design in 1848 and was elected a full member of that prestigious body the next year. By 1850, Church was living in New York with a studio in the 10th Street Studio Building.

In 1857, he finished his first masterpiece “Niagara” - - a seven foot wide monumental canvas depicting the Horseshoe Falls part of Niagara Falls. Church deided to exhibit it in an unusual way. He hired a large room in the 10th Street building to show the work and charged admission to enter. The idea was a hit with thousands of people coming to view the painting. Church also arranged for the painting to be exhibited in a similar manner in London.

The primary focus of Church's early work was America and in particular, New York. However, the writings of Prussian explorer Alexander von Humbolt inspired Church to travel to South America (1853 and 1857) where he made numerous sketches of Columbia and Equator.

His South American travels led to a second masterpiece in 1859 “The Heart of the Andes.” This monumental canvas blended together a number of Church's sketches to create one scene. Again, Church exhibited the work by itself in a room in which hidden skylights enhanced the dramatic effect. It too drew thousands of spectators and after it was shown in New York, it toured various American and European cities. Church was now America's most renown painter.

In addition to being a financial success the exhibition was a romantic success as Church met his future wife Isabel Mortimer Carnes through the exhibition. They were married in 1860 and soon had a son and a daughter.

Looking for a country place to raise their family, Frederic and Isabel purchased a farm outside of Hudson, New York. The property offered scenic views of the Hudson River and the Catskills beyond. Church had first seen the area during a sketching expedition with Cole. Indeed, Cole's studio was visible across the river.

Tragedy struck in 1865 when a diphtheria epidemic claimed the Church's son and daughter. To escape, Fredric and Isabel traveled to Jamaica where Cole made numerous sketches.

In 1866, another son was born. Two more boys and a girl would follow over the next five years.

The new family traveled east in 1867 visiting Europe and the Middle East. Among the stops that later became subjects of major works by were the ancient city of Petra and the Parthenon in Athens.

Returning to the United States in 1870, Church turned his attention to building a house on 18 acres adjoining his farm in Hudson. He first consulted the well-known architect Richard Morris Hunt but eventually hired Calvert Vaux to be the official architect on the project. However, Church was not content to be a spectator. His travels had given him numerous ideas for the house and he even drew sketches of his vision. As a result, the Persian-style castle, which the Churches dubbed “Olana,” was very much Church's project.

In addition, during this period, Church served a term as Parks Commissioner in New York City and was a founding trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Church's artistic production began to diminish. This was partially due to all the time he was spending on Olana and his other projects but it was mostly due to the fact that he had contracted rheumatoid arthritis, which made it painful for him to paint. In an effort to continue, Church spent winters in the warmer climate of Mexico and even tried painting with his left hand.

Meanwhile, tastes were changing and the highly detailed, dramatic works of the Hudson River School were increasingly viewed as old-fashioned. Inasmuch as Church was not producing much in the way of new art, there was nothing to counteract this trend. As a result, by the time of Church's death in 1900, his art was largely forgotten. It was not until the more-environmentally conscious 1970s that the artistic community and the public again recognized the significance of such depictions of unspoiled nature.

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​Two of Church's early masterpieces: "Niagara" (above) and "The Heart of the Andes" (below).

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​Although Church is associated with American landscapes, he traveled extensively.  In 1859, he journeyed to Newfoundland and Labrador to sketch icebergs.

In the late 1860s, Church traveled to Europe and the Middle East where he was inspired by the Parthenon (above) and the ancient city of Petra (below). 

​Church supported the Union during the Civil War and painted "Our Banner in the Sky" (above).

Above: "Niagara Falls from the American Side."

Below: "Cotopaxi."

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Artist appreciation - Frederic Church​