Heart of the Andes

1859

Oil on canvas, 168 × 305.3 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

A tropical valley climbs through forest and plain to a snowy summit, showing hot, mild and frozen zones in one view. The German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt's studies of the region inspired it.

It was displayed in a darkened room, lit by gas jets behind silver reflectors, inside a window-like frame that is now lost.
Look closely at the plants; Church advised visitors to bring opera glasses for the detail.
It combines pencil and oil sketches from Ecuador, made on trips in 1853 and 1857, rather than one real view.
Presented on its own as a ticketed show at 25 cents, it drew a reported 12,000 to 13,000 paying visitors a month.
Margaret E. Dows bequeathed it to the Met in 1909.

Image: The Met Open Access · CC0