Fine Canvas Art Blog

Fanciful Landscape, Thomas Doughty, 1834

American / Landscape / Paintings (Reproductions) - 1 year ago - troycapc

This is a reproduction of “Fanciful Landscape” of 1834 by Thomas Doughty.   This masterpiece was created when the artist was forty-one years old, twenty-two years before his death.  Doughty was an artist of the Hudson River School founded by Thomas Cole and was able to work exclusively as a landscapist.  He was self taught and was a native of Philadelphia.  This masterpiece is 101.5 cm wide and 76.3 cm high and is at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

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The Course of Empire, Desolation, Thomas Cole

American / Landscape / Paintings (Reproductions) / Romanticism - 1 year ago - troycapc

This is a reproduction of the fifth of Thomas Cole’s five part series, “The Course of Empire”.  This fifth painting, “Desolation” depicts a landscape in which the capital of empire lies desolated in the aftermath of its violent destruction.  As daylight fades, the landscape is shown in the process of returning to wilderness.  Ruins lie broken in the vegatation as a pale moon rises over the sea.  The boulder-topped mountain is still visible from the earlier paintings and the moonrise provides a juxtaposition to the rising sun of the first painting.  The original canvas is 63.5 inches wide and 39.5 inches high and is in the New York Historical Society.

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The Course of Empire, Destruction, Thomas Cole

American / Greco-Roman / Landscape / Neoclassical / Paintings (Reproductions) - 1 year ago - troycapc

This is a reproduction of the fourth of Thomas Cole’s five part series, “The Course of Empire”.  This fourth painting, “Destruction” depicts a landscape in which capital of empire is being destroyed.  Raiders have apparently entered the city from an invasion fleet.  They are ravaging the inhabitants of the city and have destroyed the major river bridge.  There is a headless statue in the foreground and, of course, the boulder-topped mountain is still visible from the earlier paintings.  The sea raiders may have been inspired by the Vandal sack of Rome in 455.  The original canvas is 63.5 inches wide and 39.5 inches high and is in the New York Historical Society.

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The Course of Empire, Consummation, Thomas Cole

American / Landscape / Paintings (Reproductions) - 1 year ago - troycapc

This is a reproduction of the third of Thomas Cole’s five part series, “The Course of Empire”.  This third painting, “The Consummation of Empire” depicts a landscape in which the pinnacle of imperial achievement has been gained.  The structures are obviously inspired by imperial Rome, yet the iconic boulder-topped mountain is still visible from the earlier paintings. The setting is an imaginary geography identifiable in each painting by a small mountain topped with an iconic boulder.  The original canvas is 76 inches wide and 51 inches high and is in the New York Historical Society.

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The Course of Empire, The Arcadian or Pastoral State, Thomas Cole

American / Landscape / Paintings (Reproductions) - 1 year ago - troycapc

This is a reproduction of the second of Thomas Cole’s five part series, “The Course of Empire”.  This second painting, “The Arcadian or Pastoral State” depicts a landscape in which pastoralism predominates with a structure reminiscent of Stonehenge in the center of the painting.  Cole was reflecting the popular American belief that pastoralism, the agriculturally based state, was preferable to the imperial states of Europe and Asia.  The setting is an imaginary geography identifiable in each painting by a small mountain topped with an iconic boulder.  The original canvas is 160 cm wide and 100 cm high and is in the New York Historical Society.

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The Course of Empire, The Savage State, Thomas Cole

American / Landscape / Neoclassical / Paintings (Reproductions) - 1 year ago - troycapc

This is a reproduction of the first of Thomas Cole’s five part series, “The Course of Empire”.  This first painting, “The Savage State” depicts a landscape devoid of the structures of civilization.  Cole was reflecting the popular American belief that pastoralism, the agriculturally based state, was preferable to the imperial states of Europe and Asia.  The setting is an imaginary geography identifiable in each painting by a small mountain topped with an iconic boulder.  In this first scene there is a barbaric encampment at the extreme right of the viewer.  The original canvas is 160 cm wide and 100 cm high and is in the New York Historical Society.

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Aurora Borealis by Frederic Edwin Church, 1865

Academician / American / Landscape / Paintings (Reproductions) - 1 year ago - troycapc

This is a reproduction of Frederic Edwin Church’s “Aurora Borealis” of 1865.  Church was a leading figure of the Hudson River School and he produced this masterpiece when he was thirty-nine years old.  He studied under Thomas Cole from the age of eighteen and in 1859 became a sensation in New York City with the dramatic presentations of his over-sized masterpieces.  This is a wonderful example of his work and with frame measures 83.5 inches by 56.125 inches.  Church died in 1900.  This masterpiece is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D. C.

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Twilight in the Wilderness by Frederic Edgar Church, 1860

American / Landscape / Paintings (Reproductions) - 1 year ago - troycapc

A reproduction of the masterpiece by Frederic Edgar Church, “Twilight in the Wilderness” of 1860. This quintessentially American work has had many interpreters and is a glorious celebration of the American wilderness. The eagle on the left can be seen as a representation of the American icon of the nation; crossed trees in the work may suggest Christianity. The scruffy and twisted pines may represent the imperfect yet strong elements of the landscape. But the entire work is dominated by blazing red clouds of the sky at dusk, surely a reflection of the bloody storm-clouds threatening Church’s homeland, the Civil War which was to break out in the year following this work’s creation. This work is currently at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Frederic Church was the leading artist of the second generation of the Hudson River School. By the time of this work, he was the most famous contemporary American artist at the age of thirty-four years. He had been a student of Benjamin Cole. As tastes changed after 1865, Church’s popularity with the public began to fade but he continued to paint and was very comfortable due to the significant private wealth of his family. He died in New York City in 1900.

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Storm in the Mountains by Frederic Edgar Church, 1847

American / Landscape / Paintings (Reproductions) - 1 year ago - troycapc

A reproduction of the masterpiece by Frederic Edgar Church, “Storm in the Mountains” of 1847. This early work of Church was painted when he was twenty-one. He is probably doing homage to his teacher Thomas Cole who also painted blasted trees. This was a common motif among romantics and represents the power of nature and the fragility of life before that power. This work is currently at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Frederic Church was the leading artist of the second generation of the Hudson River School. By the time of this work, he was the most famous contemporary American artist at the age of thirty-four years. He had been a student of Benjamin Cole. As tastes changed after 1865, Church’s popularity with the public began to fade but he continued to paint and was very comfortable due to the significant private wealth of his family. He died in New York City in 1900.

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The Coming Storm by George Inness, 1878

Inness / Paintings (Reproductions) - 2 years ago - troycapc

Reproductions of this masterpiece are available at our store.

There is a reproduction of George Inness’ “The Coming Storm” of 1878. This is a fine example of the American style of landscape art which arose out of the Hudson River School and was influenced by the French Barbizon School. George Inness was instrumental in establishing a strong and independent mode of producing fine art, particularly of landscapes. This work is currently in the Museum of Art at the Munson Williams Proctor Institute in Utica, New York.

The Hudson River School arose in the 1830’s as a Romantic landscape glorification of American scenes. It began with the successes of Thomas Cole really from the 1820’s and continued into a second generation of artists, prominent among whom were Frederic Edwin Church and Albert Bierstadt in the 1850’s and through 70’s. It was into this milieu that Inness was introduced early in his life.

George Inness was born on May 1, 1825 in Newburgh, New York to farmers and was raised in New Jersey. He came to the attention of French landscape artist Regis Francois Gignoux while he was a teenaged map-engraver in New York City. He attended classes at the National Academy of Design and studied the works of the Hudson River School.

When he was twenty-six Inness was sponsored in a trip to Europe where he rented a room above painter William Page in Rome and was introduced to the theology of Immanuel Swedenborg. Among other tenets, Swedenborgism maintained that there is a connection, or correspondence between the spiritual plane or world and the physical plane of existence. Its adherents also looked upon the traditional Biblical narrative as a spiritual description of the human individual’s transformation from a physical into a spiritual existence. These ideas appealed to Inness who increasingly felt that it was the purpose of art to express the spiritual nature of the artist.

While in Rome Inness was also introduced to the Barbizon school of landscape painting from France. It accentuated a looser brushwork, darker palette and emphasis on mood in landscapes. The Barbizon School had been inspired in France by the 1824 exhibition of the works of the English artist John Constable. The exhibition inspired many younger artists to use Nature as the subjects of their works. They increasingly did so and by the revolutionary year of 1848 the Barbizon School was dominant among younger European artists. It was therefore dominant among the painters of Inness’ own age in 1851.

When he returned to America, Inness became the leading American exponent of the Barbizon School and he developed a noted personal style. Beginning in the middle 1850’s Inness began his profuse production of landscapes. He became one of the most successful American painters of landscapes and his were characterized by panoramic views with cloudy and threatening skies.

In the last decades of his life, Inness’ work became more intimate with more personal, spontaneous and sometimes violent utilization of the brush. This differentiated him from the Luminist landscape artists in America but he became a leading Tonalist artist with James McNiell Whistler. Tonalism promotes the utilization of darker palettes and Tonalist work is more easily associated with moonlight and less bright conditions. Inness in particular favored subdued lighting and stormy conditions. While on a trip to Scotland on August 3, 1894, Inness was viewing a sunset when he threw up his hands and shouted, “My God! Oh, how beautiful!” He collapsed and died a few minutes later on the Bridge of Allen at Stirling.

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