Frederic Edwin Church by Napoleon Sarony.jpg Photo by Napoleon Sarony – Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Facts about Frederic Edwin Church


 

He was a famous American painter born in Connecticut, Hartford, on May 4,  1826. He was the son of Eliza and Joseph Church.  He has two sisters. His family was a financial success due to the fact that the father was a silversmith and jeweler businessman with several financial firms where he was a director. On the maternal side, his uncle was Adrian Janes, who owned an iron foundry that constructed the U.S. Capitol Dome. It is this wealthy background that assisted him in enrolling at the Hudson River School of American landscape painters to pursue his career as a painter. At the school, he ventured in sharpening his skills on landscapes, waterfalls, and sunsets, but most importantly, the images were realistic with dramatic light and panoramic views. His paintings emerged to be among the best at the Hudson River School of American landscape painters. Frederic’s paintings put an emphasis on realistic detail, dramatic light, and panoramic views. He debuted some of his significant works in single-painting exhibitions to a paying and often enthralled audience in New York City. However, he emerged as the most famous painter in the United States of America during his time.

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1. National Academy of Design Youngest Associate

Frederic’s career was well recognized at a very early age. In actual fact, in 1848 at the National Academy of Design, he kept a record of being elected as the youngest Associate. Due to his vast contribution to the development of the Academy, he was promoted to full member in 1849. The position gained the Academy new members courtesy of the Church such as Walter Launt Palmer, William James Stillman, and Jervis McEntee.

2. He was a Pupil of Thomas Cole

Thomas Cole.jpg Photo by Unknown author – Wikimedia Commons

 In 1844, aged 18, Frederic became the pupil of landscape artist Thomas Cole in Catskill, New York after Daniel Wadsworth, a family neighbor and founder of the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, Connecticut, introduced the two. He studied with him for two years; by this time his talent was evident. According to his teacher Thomas, he had the finest eye for drawing in the world. It was during his time as a student under Thomas that he traveled to various places like New England and New York to make sketches, visiting East Hampton, Connecticut, Long Island, Catskill Mountain House, The Berkshires, New Haven, Connecticut, and Vermont among other places. 

3. His First Record Sale was Awesome

Frederic Edwin Church – Brady-Handy-crop.jpg Photo by Mathew Benjamin Brady – Wikimedia Commons

The mentorship from Thomas Cole gained him popularity and growth in his career. His neighbor was his first client whereby his first recorded sale to Wadsworth Athenaeum in 1846 was $130. The sale was generated from his painting of pastoral painting illustrating Hooker’s journey in 1636.

4. His work Reflected romanticism

Artists of the Romantic period of the 1800 century usually often outlined nature in idealized scenes that illustrated the richness and beauty of nature. The artwork then was a compliment to nature’s grand scale. However, Frederic was able to move forward with their 18th-century works by giving them a new face in idealism. The emphasis on nature is encouraged by low horizontal lines and a preponderance of sky. Frederic worked with tactics that hid the brushstrokes so that the painting surface was smooth and the painter’s personality apparently absent.

5. His Paintings had His Faith in them

Frederic Edwin Church – Rainy Season in the Tropics – Google Art Project.jpg Photo by Frederic Edwin Church – Wikimedia Commons

Frederic and Thomas Cole were both Protestants. This formed the bases by which his paintings had everything to do with this in particular, his early canvases. In addition, at Hudson River School, paintings were identified by their focus on traditional pastoral settings, for instance, the Catskill Mountains, and their Romantic qualities. The mean idea that Frederic had was to incorporate the wild realism of an unsettled America that was quickly disappearing. Further, his works appreciated nature and beauty.

6. His Artwork was Critiqued

One of his artworks represented the American frontier landscapes showing the expansionist and optimistic outlook of the United States in the mid-nineteenth century cause critique from Cole. The reason is that Fredelic’s topics of his paintings incorporated natural and often majestic scenes while Cole’s paintings were based on a propensity towards allegory. Cole was hoping that Frederic could copy his ideas but unfortunately, Fredelic was firm on his discussion and focused on what he loved most, nature themed paintings.

7. He was Influenced by John Ruskin

 

John Ruskin 1863.jpg Photo by W. & D. Downey – Wikimedia Commons

The English art critic John Ruskin was another important and big influence on Church. In Ruskin’s Modern Painters, he emphasizes the close observation of nature: “the imperative duty of the landscape painter [is] to descend to the lowest details with undiminished attention. Every class of rock, every kind of earth, every form of cloud, must be studied with equal industry, and rendered with equal precision.” This attention to detail must be combined with the artist’s interpretation, impressions, and imagination to achieve great art. While Church’s paintings were widely praised in the 1850s and 1860s, some critics found his detailed panoramas lacking in the imaginative or poetic.

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8. His works were complemented Greatly

Frederic’s work was unique and very famous in the American World of Arts. In actual fact, in 1879 an American Painter, George W. Sheldon complimented his art. In addition, his works had become famous with almost every American citizen recognizing and loving his output.  This was because of his love for nature and the detailed expansive and force of sentiment that every intelligent American loved. In a nutshell, his works were described as the spiritual verities of nature are the true home of landscape art.

9. He was a Travel Artist

In a short span of time, Frederic earned a reputation as a traveler artist. This was due to his early domestic painting and sketching trips to the White Mountains, western Massachusetts, the Catskills, Hartford, Conn, Niagara, Virginia, Kentucky, and Maine. In addition, he made two trips to South America where he stayed predominantly in Quito in 1853 and 1857 consecutively. The visit gave him a new natural view of his painting where he developed paintings on the volcanoes and cities of modern-day Colombia and Ecuador not leaving out the isthmus of Panama. However, he did not travel alone. During his first trip, he was accompanied by businessman Cyrus West Field. Field financed the voyage, hoping to use Frederic’s paintings in an attempt to convince South American businessmen to venture into his own. 

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10. His Paintings Rewarded Him in a Big Way

Frederic’s paintings were unique, for instance, The Heart of the Andes was exhibited in New York City in 1859. The majority of Americans paid to see the painting, with the painting’s huge floor-based frame playing the part of a window looking out on the Andes. In addition, people sat on benches to view the piece, sometimes using opera glasses to get close. Whatsmore, Frederic strategically arranged the room to illuminate the painting with the light from overhead skylights. However, he did not go wrong with this painting because it earned him instant fame and was a great success. That notwithstanding, Frederic eventually sold this particular painting at $10,000, an amount that was the highest ever paid to a living American artist.