How to Read Paintings: The Parthenon by Frederic Edwin Church
How this wistful depiction of the ancient temple tells a deeper story
The evening sun casts a golden light over the famous ruins of the Parthenon. Located at the Acropolis — an ancient citadel above the city of Athens — the Parthenon was built in the middle of the 5th century BC when the Athenian Empire was at the peak of its power.
The image was painted by Frederic Edwin Church, an American artist and member of the Hudson River School of landscape painters. This artistic fraternity recorded the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding mountain ranges, chronicling the disappearing wilderness and the expanding presence of modern civilization. During his lifetime, Church became one of the most famous artists in the United States.
In 1867, Church travelled with his family on an extensive tour of Europe and the Middle East. From France they went to Alexandria in Egypt and then onto Beirut in Lebanon. They visited Jerusalem and Petra, and later Damascus. It was during this trip that Church made a two-week visit to Athens, where he produced sketches and on-site paintings of the Parthenon. It was from these initial studies that he built up The Parthenon painting of 1871 on his return home.
