![]() Church marked one such passage in his copy of Cosmos: The azure of the sky, the form of the clouds, the vapoury mist resting in the distance, the luxuriant development of plants, the beauty of the foliage, and the outline of the mountains, are the elements which determine the total impression produced by the aspect of any particular region. Humboldt had described landscape painting as a kind of visual poetry, requiring a heightened sense of awareness and aptitude on the part of the artist. His drawings began to include significant annotations regarding the weather and the artist’s impressions of the colors of everything, from the sky and the clouds to the silvery undersides of leaves fluttering in the breeze. Church’s eye for botanical detail and the nuances of cloud forms and weather phenomena became hallmarks of his works. ![]() ![]() Church excelled at sketching under the variable conditions in the field and then returning to the studio to synthesize those immediate impressions from nature. One of those readers was Frederic Edwin Church, a young man who had decided despite his family’s reservations, to pursue a career as an artist. Humboldt did not privilege any specific country’s landscape: his was a call to all human beings to open their eyes to the natural world and see nature for both its scientific and aesthetic appeal. This second volume of Cosmos provided a template for American landscape painters to take inspiration in the scientific and poetic facets of their subjects and invest their works with a dual love of science and art. The second section of the book comprised an extended discourse chronicling the history of human attitudes toward nature, from the ancient Greeks to the modern era. The second volume brought together elements of history, philosophy, and religion in the service of a “poetic description of nature.” Those descriptions, Humboldt noted, were a shared trait among all civilizations around the globe and across time. Excerpts from the chapter “Embodying Cosmos: Frederic Edwin Church” have been edited for space.īy 1847, Humboldt was ready to release his second volume of Cosmos, which meant that in the United States, his English-speaking audience frequently absorbed both authorized volumes at once. The second volume, a reflection on nature, art, history, philosophy, and religion continued to deeply shape American artists and critics, including the influential Hudson River school painter Frederic Edwin Church.Įleanor Jones Harvey details Humboldt’s influence on Church in her book her book, Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture. Glowing reviews of the first volume ensured his life’s work would be translated into English, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Polish, Swedish, Danish, and Hungarian by 1847, two years after it was first published. What made Alexander von Humboldt a superstar in the 1800s was Cosmos, his global best-selling, multi-volume series on his scientific observations and international travels. ![]() Frederic Edwin Church, Study for “The Heart of the Andes,” 1858, oil on canvas, 10 1/4 x 18 1/4 in., Olana State Historic Site, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, OL.1981.47.A.B.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |