The ‘Most Sublime of Nature’s Works’
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One of Virginia’s most amazing architectural treasures wasn't formed by the hand of man at all.(read more)
19th Century Painter Frederic Edwin Church
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The story is told of a moment in the North Carolina mansion ofRichard Joshua Reynolds, American businessman and founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. One of the family’s small children was staring intently at an extremely large canvas in the family parlor. His mother asked him what he was admiring in the painting. He responded: “I’m looking at the church.” Indeed, he was staring at“The Andes of Ecuador,”a painting by the great artistFrederic Edwin Church. Thinking the child had become aware of the great artist at such a tender age, she joined him in examining the artwork—only to discover the red-tile-roofed chapel that was a tiny detail in the vast painting. That was the “church” the child was drawn to. Frederic Church’s epic paintings ended up in the grand homes of wealthy patrons, who probably missed much of the detail in the paintings they had purchased. The sheer volume of subtly rendered detail probably required“a little child [to] lead them”(Isaiah 11:6). Truthfully, Church was a very spiritual person, and his work reflected a sense of the unseen hand behind the scenery he so beautifully rendered.(read more)
Olana, Frederic Edwin Church's Final Masterpiece
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On a ridge overlooking the Hudson River, artistFrederic Churchcomposed his last, and perhaps grandest, work: a home and grounds for his family. He purchased the land above his first home,“Cosy Cottage,”before his trip to the Middle East and Europe.“I have just purchased the woodlot on the top of the hill. I want to secure if possible before I leave every rood [measure] of ground that I shall ever require to make my farm perfect.”(read more)