Ministers of Reform by Robert M. Crunden
Henry Boyle
Art as a world phenomenon
Rachael Mundie
July 3, 2013
Frederic Edwin Church “Twilight in the wilderness”
(1806)
Frederic Edwin Church was born on May 4, 1826 in Hartford Connecticut. He passed on April
7, 1900 at the age of 73. (Bereading for pleasure.blogspot.com/.../Fredrick-Edwin-Church-Twilight)
Frederic was a talented nature artist. He painted many beautiful scenes of the countries wilderness. The
painting I have chosen to write my analysis on is “Twilight in the Wilderness.”
This painting was done in 1860 right around the civil war time period. At the same time peoples minds
were set on manifest destiny. Manifest destiny was the belief that Americans would own coast to coast
in America and flourish in wealth by creating new jobs and using their new land to do so.
Church's intention, by painting these scenes of nature, was to draw more attention to the
wonderful scenery and away from the monetary element of this new land. Although there have been
many different opinions and views on his paintings, they all seem to point in the same direction of
his views on “Nature” and the future of our great nation.
Now that I have given you a little history on Frederic Edwin Church and his painting “Twilight
in the Wilderness,” I will give you my formal analysis on this painting. Based on what I have learned
from the history of this painting I will elaborate on the attention to detail that Frederic has put into this
painting. The first thing that I notice is the focal point seems to be the mountains in the background.
The sky around these mountains is bright with yellow and white that fades away into the darker sky
and dim landscaping. The forefront of this painting had dying trees and a broken tree stump.
As the river flows away from the forefront, it gets smaller as do the trees and mountains. Attention to
detail gets less from the forefront to the background. These
Art as a world phenomenon
Rachael Mundie
July 3, 2013
Frederic Edwin Church “Twilight in the wilderness”
(1806)
Frederic Edwin Church was born on May 4, 1826 in Hartford Connecticut. He passed on April
7, 1900 at the age of 73. (Bereading for pleasure.blogspot.com/.../Fredrick-Edwin-Church-Twilight)
Frederic was a talented nature artist. He painted many beautiful scenes of the countries wilderness. The
painting I have chosen to write my analysis on is “Twilight in the Wilderness.”
This painting was done in 1860 right around the civil war time period. At the same time peoples minds
were set on manifest destiny. Manifest destiny was the belief that Americans would own coast to coast
in America and flourish in wealth by creating new jobs and using their new land to do so.
Church's intention, by painting these scenes of nature, was to draw more attention to the
wonderful scenery and away from the monetary element of this new land. Although there have been
many different opinions and views on his paintings, they all seem to point in the same direction of
his views on “Nature” and the future of our great nation.
Now that I have given you a little history on Frederic Edwin Church and his painting “Twilight
in the Wilderness,” I will give you my formal analysis on this painting. Based on what I have learned
from the history of this painting I will elaborate on the attention to detail that Frederic has put into this
painting. The first thing that I notice is the focal point seems to be the mountains in the background.
The sky around these mountains is bright with yellow and white that fades away into the darker sky
and dim landscaping. The forefront of this painting had dying trees and a broken tree stump.
As the river flows away from the forefront, it gets smaller as do the trees and mountains. Attention to
detail gets less from the forefront to the background. These