Church, Frederic Edwin "The hearts of the Andes"

Frederic Edwin Church.  "The hearts [sic] of the Andes."

Berlin: F. Sala & Co., ca. 1858.  Tinted lithograph with hand highlights.  15 1/2 x 21 3/4.  Very good condition.

Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900) is one of the most influential landscape artists of the nineteenth century.  A pupil of Thomas Cole, he was a key figure in the Hudson River School of American artists.  In the 1850s, inspired by Alexander von Humboldt, Church went to South America and made sketches for what would become his most impressive painting, "The Heart of the Andes," completed in 1858.  Church's large canvas (6 x 10 feet) was a huge success with the public and attracted more than twelve thousand viewers when it was exhibited in New York in 1859.  Though this print, produced in Germany, cannot convey the impact of the huge original, it still beautifully captures Church's grand concept and the careful detail set in an awe-inspiring landscape.