Sunbeams between Clouds, with Bulls
1844 - 1846
Classification
Drawing
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Louis P. Church
Accession Number
1917-4-1307
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Frederic Edwin Church, pioneering American landscape painter of the Hudson River School, *Sunbeams between Clouds with Bulls* between 1844 and 1846, when he was just in his late teens. As one of Church's earliest surviving works, this drawing captures the young artist's budding fascination with dramatic natural phenomena—here, radiant sunbeams piercing through clouds, paired with the earthy presence of bulls in a pastoral scene. Trained under Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School, Church was already honing his eye for sublime light effects and vast skies that would define his mat...