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Mountain Landscape
Artist	Frederic Edwin Church
Year	c. 1849
Medium	oil paint, canvas
Dimensions	34.6 cm (13.6 in) × 48.5 cm (19.1 in)
Location	Brauer Museum of Art
Accession No.	53.01.107
[edit on Wikidata]

Mountain Landscape is an 1849, early period painting by American landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church of the Hudson River School of artists. The work depicts a landscape in the Northeastern United States based on Church's travels in Vermont. The painting was originally part of the Nickerson art collection but was later donated to Valparaiso University as part of the Sloan bequest in 1953. In 2024, the university proposed selling the painting as an asset to fund dormitory renovations, leading to a contentious debate about the ethics of deaccessioning artwork.

Background

Church was raised in Hartford, Connecticut, where he remained from 1826 to 1843. He moved to Catskill, New York, in 1844, to study art for two years under Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School. Cole preferred the style of creating compositions of both representational and imaginative landscapes, where the artist creates a fusion of what is both in the natural world and in the mind on the canvas. During this time, Church made sketches in Long Island and completed a painting in Catskill (The Catskill Creek, 1845). He first exhibited two works, Twilight among the Mountains and Hudson Scenery at the National Academy of Design in 1845.

Development

Church sketched throughout southern Vermont in 1849, completing more than ten paintings that year, including A Mountain Tempest, The Plague of Darkness, West Rock, New Haven, Above the Clouds at Sunrise, View in Pittsford, Vermont, New England Landscape (Evening after a Storm), The Harp of the Winds (A Passing Storm), Morning, Sunset, and Lower Falls, Rochester, as only a small selection. Mountain Landscape is believed to have been created back in the studio sometime between 1849 and 1850 based on Church's memories of his time in Vermont. At one time, it was alternately titled Sunset, West Rock, New Haven, as it was thought to depict West Rock, New Haven, an idea which was later discounted.​

Description

The scene unfolds at twilight, with a blueish-white sky tinged with purples and grays, echoed by the surrounding clouds. The amber glow of the fading light of sunset bathes the mountain in the center-right of the composition. Forests envelop the scene, providing a counterpoint to the orderly farmlands visible in the middleground—a rare glimpse of human presence. Nature's untamed expanse contrasts with the geometric patterns of cultivated land. A lake in the foreground reflects the scene with serene clarity, while a lone figure in a boat drifts near the shore, adding a contemplative dimension to the composition. A waterfall punctuates the landscape near the forest's edge, further animating the tranquil scene.

Provenance

Originally owned by Samuel M. Nickerson, president of the First National Bank of Chicago and a prominent 19th-century art collector and philanthropist, the painting was part of his extensive collection, which he donated to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1900. In 1950, Percy Sloan, son of the Hudson River School artist Junius R. Sloan, acquired Mountain Landscape from the Art Institute and donated it to Valparaiso University as part of a larger bequest of 400 works.

Deaccessioning

In 2023, Mountain Landscape became the subject of a controversial proposal. Valparaiso University, facing financial pressures amidst declining enrollment and a deficit, announced plans to sell the painting as part of an effort to fund dormitory renovations to attract new students. This decision ignited a heated debate over the ethics of deaccessioning—a process governed by ethical museum guidelines that typically mandate reinvesting the proceeds of artwork sales back into the museum's collection. Instead, the proposed sale aimed to direct funds toward non-art-related expenditures, provoking strong opposition from faculty, students, and the wider art community. The controversy highlighted the tension between the financial reality of modern educational institutions and the cultural stewardship entrusted to them, raising important questions about the preservation of artistic heritage.

References

1. ^ Kelly, Franklin; Gould, Stephen Jay; Ryan, James Anthony; Rindge, Deborah (1989). Frederic Edwin Church. National Gallery of Art: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 32-43; 158-160.ISBN 9780894681363. OCLC 20016290.
2. ^ Hertzlieb, Gregg (Fall/Winter 2009-2010). "Frederic Edwin Church: Mountain Landscape". Valparaiso Poetry Review. Valparaiso University. XI (1). Retrieved October 30, 2024.
3. "Mountain Landscape, (painting)". Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum.
4. Kelly, Franklin; Carr, Gerald L., Church (1987). The Early Landscapes of Frederic Edwin Church, 1845-1854. Amon Carter Museum. pp. 99-100. ISBN 9780883600788. OCLC 1244732516.
5. Dexter, Matt (1996). "Mountain Landscape". Description Essays. The Valpo Core Reader. Valparaiso University. 213. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
6. "Samuel M. Nickerson". (1914). Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago (1907-1951). 8 (2): 19.
7. Boucher, Brian (September 4, 2024). "A Court Approves Valparaiso University's Controversial Plan to Sell Paintings From Brauer Museum Collection". Artnet. Retrieved October 30, 2024.

• Paintings by Frederic Edwin Church
• 1849 paintings
• Valparaiso University