ATTRIBUTED TO FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH (NY/CT/MEXICO, 1826

Italian Landscape with River and Mountains, oil on paper laid to board, signed "FEC" lower left, housed in lemon gold molded frame, OS: 9 1/4" x 12 1/2", SS: 4 1/4" x 7 1/2". One small raised blemish in sky.Church was born in Hartford, CT, became a central figure in the Hudson River School of painters. He was the son of a banker who convinced the well established Thomas Cole to take him on as a student. in Catskill, NY. Church opened his studio in New York City, immediately gained fame for his view of Niagara Falls. He traveled broadly until the end of the Civil War, creating views of the Arctic and South America. After the death of his two children from diphtheria in 1865, Church and his wife went to Jamaica, where his fasciation with botany blossomed, followed by an 1867 trip to the Middle East. He built a Persian inspired home "Olana' overlooking the Hudson, became the Parks Commissioner in New York City and was a founding trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Provenance: From a Wiscasset, ME Collection.