Cliff Face, Petra, Syria (Jordan)
February 25, 1868
Medium
nature studies
Classification
nature studies
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Louis P. Church
Accession Number
1917-4-813-b
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Step into the dramatic cliffs of Petra with Frederic Edwin Church's *Cliff Face, Petra, (Jordan)*, a nature study dated February 25, 1868. As a leading figure of the River School, Church was renowned for his luminous landscapes that captured the sublime power of nature. This intimate oil sketch, now in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, reflects his meticulous on-site observations during an ambitious 1867–68 expedition to the Middle East, including the ancient Nabataean city of Petra in modern-day Jordan—famously carved into rose-red sandstone cliffs. Church's nature studies like this one w...