Artist: Frederic Edwin Church
Painting title: Niagara Falls, from the American Side
Date: 1867
Museum Location: National Galleries of Scotland
Niagara Falls, from the American Side is a painting by the American artist Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900). Completed in 1867, it is based on preliminary sketches made by the artist at Niagara Falls and on a sepia photograph. The painting is now in the collection of the Scottish National Gallery. Church was a leading member of the Hudson River School of painters.
Church's large canvas captures magnificently the drama of Niagara Falls, one of his country's most famous landmarks. This painting, based on a drawing Church made at Niagra in July 1856 and on a sepia photograph touched with colour, was commissioned by the New York art dealer Michael Knoedler in 1866. It may originally have been destined for the Universal Exhibition in Paris, as Church was selected to represent America there. It was bought in 1887 by John S. Kennedy who presented it to his native Scotland. It is the only major example of Church's work in a European public collection.
National Galleries of Scotland
73 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DS
website: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/
