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Church, Frederic Edwin |
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Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900)
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| Birth Place |
Hartford, Connecticut |
| Death Place |
New York, New York |
| Born |
May 4, 1826 |
| Died |
Apr. 7, 1900 |
| General Notes |
In 1844, when he was only eighteen, Frederic Church moved from his native Hartford, Connecticut, to Catskill, New York, to study painting with Thomas Cole. This was a singular honor, for Cole, then America's preeminent landscape painter, had never before accepted a pupil. Cole and the Hudson Valley would leave their deep impress on Church. His devotion to his teacher is easily perceived in his first productions, which closely mirror Cole's works, especially in their aspirations to convey sacred meaning through the quintessential American landscape. By his technical virtuosity, Church rapidly surpassed the achievements of his renowned teacher. At age twenty-three he was elected to full membership in the National Academy of Design. Thereafter, he enjoyed unflagging success, primarily with a succession of monumental exhibition pictures and impressive scenes that were inspired by his far-ranging travels to South America, the North Atlantic, Europe, and the Middle East. Church ultimately made his home on the Hudson River, on a promontory that looked down on Cole's home. "Olana," the grand Moorish-style house that Church designed, became one of the most absorbing projects of the second half of his career. |
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