The Light at the End of the World

Frederic Edwin Church did not pack his bags for the Middle East to capture a pretty sunset. He went to the desert because the grave had just swallowed his children and he needed to find out if God was still there. His world had gone entirely black. The result of that desperate pilgrimage was the 1870 canvas Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.

He hiked up the ancient hills and sketched the exact topography of the holy city. But reality is rarely enough for a grieving father. He manipulated the atmosphere on his massive canvas. He painted a violent and beautiful light pouring down onto the Dome of the Rock. That golden shrine became the glowing central anchor of the entire piece. It was a beacon in a landscape that looked as exhausted as Church felt.

When he dragged this oil painting back to New York in 1871 the wealthy patrons ate it up. The American elite were terrified of the future. They wanted spiritual reassurance and Church handed them a glowing testament to the past. Critics fell over themselves praising the spiritual clarity of the work. They completely ignored the messy and chaotic tide of modernism rising across the Atlantic in Europe. Impressionism was coming to break all the rules. But in that quiet gallery Church offered one last perfect and controlled vision of a world where heaven still touched the earth.

References

Church, Frederic Edwin. Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. 1870. Oil on canvas. 137.8 x 214.3 cm. Public Domain.

Avery, Kevin J. The Art of Frederic Edwin Church. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1993.

Howat, John K. Frederic Edwin Church. New Haven: Yale University Press. 2005.