<I>The Garden of Eden</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1852
name: label: Created by
content: Robert S. Duncanson, American, 1821 - 1872
notes: label: Caption
content: ... the exotic, semitropical Eden depicted in Duncanson’s painting is emblematic of America as the primitive, wilderness garden, "a perfect earth." J. D. Ketner
label: Caption
content: This is a smaller version of a painting Robert Duncanson presented to Rev. Charles Avery, a well-known abolitionist, for his efforts on behalf of the enslaved. The painting of the same subject by celebrated Hudson River School artist Thomas Cole served as Duncanson's inspiration. When he traveled to Europe, Duncanson enjoyed a sense of freedom and self-worth that he could not always experience in the United States. This work symbolizes the hoped-for "Eden" of his own country.
label: Caption
content: Encouraged in his career by Cincinnati philanthropist Nicholas Longworth, Duncanson’s most famous commission was a series of landscape murals for Longworth’s mansion, Belmont.
label: Description
content: This oil painting depicts a landscape scene. Numerous trees, including palm trees, frame the image on the left and right. The center of the image is an open clearing with a small stream running through a meadow covered with greenery and flowers. Further back into the painting the clearing opens up into a wide meadow. There are two small nude human figures on the right side of the meadow. Beyond the meadow is a lake fed by a waterfall. In the background is a single conical mountain.
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Christianity
label: Topic
content: Religion
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Louis Moore Bacon
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2014.299
objectType: label: Type
content: paintings
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Public Domain
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: oil on canvas
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (Frame): 40 11/16 × 56 3/8 × 4 1/8 in. (103.3 × 143.2 × 10.5 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (Canvas): 32 1/2 × 48 1/2 in. (82.6 × 123.2 cm)