Artist/Maker Frederic Edwin Church 1826 - 1900

Cayambe

1858

Oil on canvas

Unframed: 30 × 48 1/8 in. (76.2 × 122.2 cm)
Framed: 41 1/8 × 59 1/4 × 4 1/4 in. (104.5 × 150.5 × 10.8 cm)

The Robert L. Stuart Collection, the gift of his widow Mrs. Mary Stuart

S-91

Church conveyed the grandeur of the South American landscape not only in heroic-sized canvases but also in smaller oils, such as Cayambe. Painted after his second trip to Ecuador, Cayambe features the volcano of the same name in the distance. Church had first seen this natural wonder during his initial trip in 1852, following in the footsteps of Alexander von Humboldt, the celebrated German naturalist and explorer, who described Cayambe as “the most beautiful as well as the most majestic” snow peak in the Andes. During his second visit, in the company of Louis Rémy Mignot, Church concentrated on the mountains of Ecuador. Among the first works he completed upon his return was this commission from Robert L. Stuart, who was a fellow devotee of Humboldt. Church included an ancient ruin in his canvas because Stuart had a fascination with archaeology and paleontology.

InscribedInscribed at lower left: "F.E. Church / 1858"

Depicts

landscapes (representations)

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

DescriptionLandscape depicting the Cayambe, a volcano in Ecuador about 20, 000 feet high, on the line of the Equator; lush greenery with a pond in foreground; reflective river in middleground; stone pedestal in foreground on left; group of houses to far left; large volcano with mountain range in center; clear sky with traces of clouds. Published ReferencesPerspectives on the Collections of the New-York Historical Society (New York: New-York Historical Society, 2000),42-43

Vedder, Lee A. “Nineteenth-century American Paintings.” The Magazine Antiques, Vol. 167, no.1, January 2005, p. 151.

Harvey, Eleanor Jones, Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: art, nature, and culture (Washington, DC : Smithsonian American Art Museum; Princeton: in association with Princeton University Press, 2020), 351, 353, 402, cat. no. 102.

N-YHS RR Negative Number 27091

Object NameLandscape