Thunderstorm in the Alps
date: label: Date
content: June–August 1868
name: label: Artist
content: Frederic Edwin Church, American, 1826–1900
notes: label: Catalogue Status
content: Research in Progress
label: Description
content: Landscape study showing a dramatic view of a double rainbow arching over a lush valley in the the European Alps, as a jagged bolt of lightning strikes the ground at left. The flat, green valley floor extends from the foreground to the middle distance at left and to the background at right, with the onion-shaped steeple of a church shown in the middle distance at right. At center right, a ferociously burning building sends a plume of dark smoke into the sky. One bright rainbow vibrantly arches into the sky at center, with another, more faded bow beside it at right. At left, a white, zig-zagging bolt of lightning strikes the valley floor near a grove of trees. In the background, a rocky, rugged mountain range extends obliquely into the distance to the right, where the light of the setting sun suffuses the rainy atmosphere with a warm golden glow.
place: label: made in
content: Germany, Austria, or Switzerland
label: place depicted
content: Germany, Austria, or Switzerland
setName: label: See more items in
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collection
label: See more items in
content: Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design Department
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Louis P. Church
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 1917-4-509
objectType: label: Type
content: landscapes
label: Object Name
content: Drawing
label: Type
content: Drawing
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Oil and graphite on tan paperboard
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 29.4 × 44.5 cm (11 9/16 × 17 1/2 in.)