Frederic Edwin Church

Frederic Edwin Church was an American Romantic landscape painter, regarded as one of the utmost members of the Hudson River School. The affluent son of a jeweler and banker, Church was given had the privilege to study under Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School, at his home and studio in Catskill, New York. On completing his training, Church set up a studio in New York which was quick to gain recognition for his dramatic panoramic outdoor scenes. His true breakthrough success arrived with the reception of his painting Niagara (1857), a massive work which gained him praise in New York and Great Britain.  

Church was an avid traveler, and the marvels of nature which moved him became the subjects of his work, from both local and foreign locales. Inspired by the writing of explorer Alexander von Humboldt, Church made two trips to South America. From his sketches there produced some of his most famous works works, including Andes of Ecuador (1855), and Cotopaxi (1862). His expeditions also took him across Europe and the Middle east. Today, Church is widely regarded as one of the foremost American landscape painters.

A room from Church’s final home and studio, a magnificent Persian-style estate called Olana, located in the Hudson River Valley, provided inspiration for the Parlor’s gold walls at Woodmere.