Nightfall near Olana
date: label: Date
content: August 1872
name: label: Artist
content: Frederic Edwin Church, American, 1826–1900
notes: label: Description
content: 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.
place: label: made in
content: Hudson, New York, USA
label: place depicted
content: Hudson, New York, USA
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: 1917-4-587
objectType: label: Type
content: landscapes
label: Object Name
content: Drawing
label: Type
content: Drawing
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Brush and oil on tan paperboard
label: Dimensions
content: 24.3 × 35.6 cm (9 9/16 × 14 in.)