FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH (NY/CT/MEXICO, 1826-1900)

"Descending to Harvest the Fields", oil on canvas, done on Frederic Church's uncle's Farm in Vermont sometime in 1847 or 48 , unsigned, depicting farmhands having left their coats and lunch baskets in the foreground working their way towards a valley field past a split rail fence, storm clouds receding to the left, housed in a vintage gold cove frame, OS: 13 3/4" x 15 3/4", SS: 7 1/2" x 9 1/2". Cleaned and relined.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 diptheria 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 Private Collection.