Nightfall near Olana

Download3000 × 2113 px View on a wall Edit

Artist: Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826–1900)
Medium: Brush and oil on tan paperboard
Size: 24.3 × 35.6 cm (9 9/16 × 14 in.)
Museum: Smithsonian Institution
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Landscape and atmosphere sketch showing a view of a vividly-illuminated pink cloud after sunset near the artist's New York estate, known as Olana. In the lower right corner, the tops of several nearby trees are visible, highlighted in a deep, saturated green. Beside them, heavily wooded hilltops are also shown along the lower margin. Dominating the composition at center, a puffy cumulus cloud catches the fiery pink light of the setting sun on its left edge, which grows fainter and darker as it extends across the cloud.

At left, the sky is rendered in a deep shade of brownish purple, while at right, it is a deep, saturated, and dark greenish blue. The same paint tone is used to outline the right contour of the central cloud, figuring the cloud as a canvas that reflects the light around it. The paint is loosely and masterfully handled for a convincing illusionistic effect of light and color.