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Twilight in the Wilderness
About the Artwork
In his New York studio, Church painted this spectacular view of a blazing sunset over wilderness near Mount Katahdin in Maine, which he had sketched during a visit nearly two years earlier. Although Church often extolled the grandeur of American landscape in his work, this painting appears to have additional overtones. Created on the eve of the Civil War, the painting's subject can be interpreted as symbolically evoking the coming conflagration. Church's considerable technical skills and clever showmanship contributed to his fame as the premier artist of his generation. Rather than debut this painting in an annual exhibition with works by other artists as was the custom, Church instead exhibited it by itself at a prestigious art gallery. Coaxed by advance publicity and highly favorable press reviews, several hundred spectators flocked to admire it during its seven-week run.
Inscriptions
Signed and dated lower right: "F. E. CHURCH / -60-"
Provenance
1860-1864: William T. Walters [1820-1894], Baltimore, MD, consigned to Samuel Putnam Avery for sale at Henry H. Leeds and Co. 1864: (Henry H. Leeds and Co., New York, NY, Feb. 12-13, 1864) 1864-1866: (Samuel Putnam Avery [1822-1904], New York, NY) 1866: (Leeds and Minor at Old Dusseldorf Gallery, New York, NY, March 9, 1866, no. 174, sold to John Taylor Johnston) 1866-1876: John Taylor Johnston [1820-1893], New York, NY 1876: (Chickering Hall, John Taylor Johnston sale, Dec. 19-22, 1876, sold to John Work Garrett?) 1876-probably 1884: John Work Garrett [1820-1884], Baltimore, MD, by descent to his daughter, Mary E. Garrett? Probably 1884-at least 1902: Mary E. Garrett [1854-1909], Baltimore, MD, sold to Robert de Forest After 1902-1931: Robert de Forest [1848-1931], Parkers Point, CT, by descent to his brother, Lockwood de Forest 1931-1932: Lockwood de Forest [1850–1932], Santa Barbara, CA, by descent to his son, Alfred Victor de Forest 1932-1945: Alfred Victor de Forest [1888-1945], Marlborough, NH, by descent to his son, Taber de Forest 1945-early 1960s: Taber de Forest [1913–1978], Maine, sold to David Wilson McCoy 1963: David Wilson McCoy [1916–2011], Lyme, CT, sold to Robert Paul Weimann, Jr., Ansonia, CT c. 1963–65: Robert Paul Weimann, Jr. [1925–1978], Ansonia, CT, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1965-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1965. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27-November 14, 1965). Frederic Edwin Church. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (organizer) (co-organizer) (February 2-March 13, 1966); Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, NY (March 30-April 30, 1966); M. Knoedler & Co., Inc. (June 1-30, 1966). Art of the United States: 1670-1966. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (organizer) (September 28-November 27, 1966). Wilderness. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (co-organizer) (October 9-November 14, 1971). Heritage and Horizon: American Painting 1776 - 1976. Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, NY (organizer) (March 7-April 11, 1976); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (May 2-June 13, 1976); The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH (July 4-August 15, 1976); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 8-October 10, 1976). American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850-1875. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (co-organizer) (February 10-June 15, 1980). Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982). A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting, 1760 - 1910. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (organizer) (co-organizer) (September 7-November 13, 1983); Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (December 7, 1983-February 12, 1984). American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (co-organizer) (October 4, 1987-January 3, 1988). Bilder Aus des Neuen Welt: Amerikanische Malerei des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts (Paintings from the New World: American Paintings from the 18th and the 19th Century). Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany (organizer) (November 17, 1988-February 12, 1989); Orangerie des Schlosses Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany (November 17, 1988-February 12, 1989); Kunsthaus Zürich, CH-8024 Zürich, Switzerland (March 3-May 15, 1989). Frederic Edwin Church. National Gallery of Art (co-organizer) (October 8, 1989-January 28, 1990). Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991). America. The New World in 19th-century Painting America. Die Neue Welt in Bildern des 19. Jahrhunderts. Belvedere, Wien, Austria (organizer) (March 17-June 20, 1999). The American Sublime. Tate Britain, London (organizer) (February 20-May 19, 2002); Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Museum of American Art, Philadelphia, PA (June 17-August 25, 2002); Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (September 22-November 17, 2002). CMA Highlights. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 21-September 11, 2005). Maine Sublime: Frederic Church’s “Twilight in the Wilderness”. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 4, 2014-January 25, 2015).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826–1900)
- Date
- 1860
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Unframed: 101.6 x 162.6 cm (40 x 64 in.); Framed: 124 x 185 x 13 cm (48 13/16 x 72 13/16 x 5 1/8 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- American Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Accession no.
- 1965.233
More by Frederic Edwin Church in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00000236
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