Frederic Edwin Church’s Journey to Colombia and Ecuador (1853)

Also available in English with the title: The Journey of Frederic Edwin Church

Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), the greatest exponent of the so-called Hudson River School, used to travel much of the year to unknown territories in order to become familiar with nature and take notes for his paintings. Inspired by the study trips of Humboldt—the German scientist and humanist—he undertook various journeys that took him to various places in the world. Among these, in 1853, he toured remote and exotic places in Colombia and Ecuador. This book provides innovative documentation of the trip and shows for the first time to the world most of the sketches and drawings made during that journey, which reside in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York. Pablo Navas Sanz de Santamaría's extensive research for this study reveals ignored plastic and human facets of the painter.