Frederic Edwin Church, an American landscape painter, created “Rainy Season in the Tropics” in 1866. Commissioned by New York art dealer Michael Knoedler, the oil on canvas painting measures 56 1/4 x 84 1/4 inches and is currently part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco collection. The artwork features a natural landscape with a rainbow and atmospheric phenomenon that portrays Church’s fascination with the amazing components of nature.
Church was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters known for their grandiose paintings of epic wilderness scenes. Church believed that close study of nature was essential to capturing the slightest detail on canvas, as apparent in his works’ precision and sublime quality. He also traveled globally to South America, Africa, Europe, Middle East and North America finding inspiration from various regions’ diverse landscapes.
Church created many paintings reflecting his travels around different parts of the world. However, “Rainy Season in the Tropics” stands out because it was born during a period of rebirth after diphtheria claimed his son and daughter’s lives in 1865. The painting reflects his new appreciation for life and rekindled spirit by showcasing rain-soaked greenery enraptured with light from above illuminating everything before it.
In conclusion, Frederic Edwin Church’s “Rainy Season In The Tropics” highlights how close communication between man and nature produces splendid scenery unique to itself while inspiring awe through complex systems only visible when keenly observed closely-defined brushwork radiates from its textures via natural lighting creating interplaying hues adding another layer acting as testament coexistence between mankind walking alongside mother earth today.
