The Heart of the Andes

1859-1860

after Frederic Edwin Church

Associated Names
Frederic Edwin Church

Artist After, American, 1826 - 1900

This painting shows a landscape view from an elevated position. Reddish-brown and dark green trees and plants surround a waterfall at the bottom of the painting, with white water cascading into a reflective pool. Beyond, a dense forest leads to rolling hills and tall, reddish-brown mountains. There are more mountains on the left, although these are white. In the center, there are distant shapes in the forest that may be buildings. Near the bottom left, a small ridge overlooks the waterfall, with a small white cross standing upright on it. The blue sky above is filled with swirling gray clouds that seem to touch the top of the mountains on the right. The color palette is warm, dominated by browns and greens, with the blue sky in the upper left.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    watercolor on joined sheets of wove paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Robert H. and Clarice Smith

  • Dimensions

    sight size: 47.7 × 91.3 cm (18 3/4 × 35 15/16 in.)
    sheet: 52.1 × 94 cm (20 1/2 × 37 in.)
    framed: 116.5 × 74 × 64 cm (45 7/8 × 29 1/8 × 25 3/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1972.7.2


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Robert H. and Clarice Smith, Crystal City, Virginia; acquired 1972 by the National Gallery of Art

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1980

  • American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850-1875, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980, p. 157, fig. 187.

1993

  • Church's Great Picture: The Heart of the Andes, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993-1994

Bibliography

1982

  • Carr, Gerald L. "American Art in Great Britain: The National Gallery Watercolor of 'The Heart of the Andes'." Studies in the History of Art 12 (1982): p. 82, fig. 1.

Inscriptions

lower left in watercolor by unknown hand: 1859 / FE CHURCH

Wikidata ID

Q64533420

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