Public data from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Learn more
The Monastery of San Pedro (Our Lady of the Snows)
About the Artwork
Although the location that inspired the painting has been subject to scholarly debate, many believe it derives from Church’s travels through the Ecuadorean Andes nearly a quarter century earlier. The composition reads as an allegory of spiritual salvation: perched atop a dramatic cliff, a brilliantly backlit monastery overlooks a shadowed foreground where a solitary figure navigates a rugged path.
Inscriptions
signed lower left: F. E. Church / 79
Provenance
H. B. Hurlbut, Cleveland (1880, as "Monastery Our Lady of the Snows").
Exhibition history
Inaugural Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (June 6-September 20, 1916). 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). American Paintings 1825 - 1915 from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum, Coshocton, OH (organizer) (July 7-November 1, 1979). American Paintings 1825-1915. Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum, Coshocton, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (July 7-November 1, 1979); Beck Center for the Arts, Lakewood, OH (September 17-October 13, 1980). Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826–1900)
- Date
- 1879
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Unframed: 118.8 x 183.2 cm (46 3/4 x 72 1/8 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- American Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection
- Accession no.
- 1915.684
More by Frederic Edwin Church in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009367
Powered by Art Trackers