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Frederic Edwin Church
In the Tropics, 1856
Frederic Church -- one of the key artists associated with the Hudson River school movement -- was fascinated with the theories of German naturalist-explorer Alexander von Humboldt. Seeking a more scientific approach to landscape painting, he followed von Humboldt's earlier expedition route through South America. In the Tropics, a composition based on Church's field sketches in Ecuador, visually echoes von Humboldt's celebration of a land where "different climates ranged the one above the other." The painting offers a study in contrasts, layering dark volcanic formations against sun-filled valleys, verdant undergrowth against the arid savanna, and the moist humidity of lowland tropics against the white contours of Mount Chimborazo's frozen summit. |