Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

Frederic Edwin Church

1883

On View in Gertrude Bernoudy Gallery, Room 1

Frederic Edwin Church, like his fellow Hudson River school artists, traveled widely, especially to the American West and South America. Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta depicts the coastal mountain range of Colombia, based on sketches the artist made during his initial visit to the region thirty years earlier. The painting presents a composite view of the landscape as a lost paradise—a verdant, tropical land untouched by civilization and the rise of industry—with its elements arranged to conform to principles of the picturesque landscape tradition. In the far distance the central Santa Marta mountain peak rises against the softly glowing sky; its rocky foothills cradle the glassy lake in the middle ground and give way to lush jungle in the foreground. The palm trees framing the painting at the right suggest an Edenic landscape, while the round orb of the sun casts a unifying glow over the entire scene. [Permanent collection label, 2016]

Artist Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826–1900)
Title Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
Date 1883
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions unframed | 40 1/16 x 60 1/8 in.
Credit line Bequest of Charles Parsons, 1905
Object number WU 2174

Technique oil painting
Work type painting

Currently on View Gertrude Bernoudy Gallery, Room 1

Reframing the 19th Century
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 06/20/2024

Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration
Saint Louis Art Museum, 10/03/2021 - 01/07/2022

Short-term loans for display in galleries
Saint Louis Art Museum, 06/06/2018 - 08/04/2019

Real / Radical / Psychological: The Collection on Display
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/09/2016 - 01/15/2017

American Art Permanent Collection Gallery (Gallery 336)
Saint Louis Art Museum, 09/01/2014 - 10/31/2015

American Places: Painting the Landscape in the Nineteenth Century
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/20/2013 - 01/06/2014

Exoticism and Orientalism in Modern Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/30/2002 - 12/08/2002

The American West: Selections from the Washington University Collection
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/03/2002 - 04/14/2002

Beginnings: The Taste of the Founders
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/21/2000 - 03/19/2000

Green Acres: Neocolonialism in the U.S.
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/11/1992 - 11/01/1992

Nineteenth Century Art from the Collection
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/19/1986 - 04/01/1986

The Beautiful, The Sublime, and The Picturesque: British Influences on American Landscape Painting
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 02/18/1984 - 04/08/1984

Parsons Collection
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1983 - 08/21/1983

Nature and the Figure
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/09/1983 - 03/06/1983

The Centennial Exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1981 - 10/11/1981

Nineteenth Century American Painting
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 11/16/1979 - 01/06/1980

Portraits and Landscapes

Charles Parsons: Portrait of a St. Louis Collector
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 12/12/1976 - 01/30/1977

Salon de Resserre: Selections of European and American Art of the Nineteenth Century from the Washington University Collections
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 02/01/1970 - 03/06/1970

“The Home Exhibition”: A Collection of Paintings Owned in St. Louis
Saint Louis Art Museum, 06/25/1911 - 10/31/1911

1905
Charles Parsons, St. Louis

Inscription LL: "Church '83"

This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.