Existing comment:
Frederic Edwin Church
Cayambe
1858
oil on canvas
Humboldt called Cayambe the "perfect mountain" for its appealing profile and picturesque setting. Church had studied Humboldt's Picturesque Atlas (on view to the right) in his patron Robert L. Stuart's library before embarking on his seven-month trip to South America in 1853. Church composed several of his own South American paintings based on Humboldt's written descriptions and engraved drawings of the prominent volcanoes. The line of clouds and rising moon derive from an oil sketch of another volcano, Chimborazo, on view to the left (bottom row). However, the pre-Columbian stele Church painted in the left foreground is not from South America, but more likely from Mexico, as it is reminiscent of Mayan images Humboldt wrote about.
New-York Historical Society, The Robert L. Stuart Collection, the gift of his widow Mrs. Mary Stuart |