Dr. Gerald L. Carr describes The Andes of Ecuador 1855 as 'a sweeping christianized panorama' and within it, Dr. David Huntington shows us the 'Golden Cross of Light.'

Rocky Forest Pool '57 has an equally powerful Christian message. There are three representations of The Trinity within Rocky Forest Pool '57. A Trinity or (trilogy) of Trinities. This is typical of Church's sense of humor; he loved visual puns, symbols and codes.

To decode Rocky Forest Pool's main 'lesson' and in order to find God, you have to follow the Way of the Cross and the Light on the Water - in other words, Christ - which flows towards the Trinity of Trees in the luminous evanescent distance.

Christ, 'withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.' The Gospel according to St Luke, Chapter 5, 16. Church did the same in 1856 with Theodore Winthrop.

Rocky Forest Pool is the creative result. It is a prayer, a poem and a lesson. 'Winthrop's record of his visit to New England and Maine with Church, recounted in his book Life in the Open Air is the key to understanding Church's North American landscapes of the later 50's'. Dr. F. Kelly.

Theodore Winthrop divided and analyzed The Heart of the Andes 1859 * into 10 different 'regions' and invited viewers to look at them through a viewing tube. Inspired by this approach to 'viewing many pictures in one' we invite you to use the inter-active analysis of the Christian symbolism in Rocky Forest Pool '57 and find the Trinity of Trinities. To do this, please go back to: Explore the Painting.

Nicholas Poussin 1594-1665 & Claude Lorraine (Gellée) 1600-1682. Two very influential French painters who went to live in Rome.
One of the greatest academic masters, Poussin studied the classical world of myth, architecture and statuary for inspiration in depicting, the antique world of order, innocence and dignity.
Et in Arcadia ego (Even in Arcady, I am), depicts two young shepherds looking at the inscription on a tomb in a wooded landscape, while a third one points at the inscription and seeks askance from a beautiful but melancholic shepherdess who is gazing down, distractedly. The meaning is that I, (Death) reign even here, in Arcady, and a reminder of their own mortality.

It was Claude Lorraine who painted the first realistic and sublime depictions of nature in his classically composed landscapes suffused with light. He was a big influence on Cole and on Church's formulaïc early work.

The Andes of Ecuador 1855 * proved that Church had a burning ambition and a truly original Genius to go beyond the past.

In 1856 'they pushed across to Vermont and into New Hampshire.' Here, it refers to 'the valley of upper Connecticut.' Dr. F. Kelly p.p. 88 & 89: Frederic Edwin Church and the National Landscape.

'We became Arcadians. Such is Arcadia, if I have read aright: a realm where sunshine never scorches, and yet shade is sweet.' Theodore Winthrop in his travelogue Life in the Open Air, p.7.

But there are other forces at work.
Go to the middle-right of the painting and you will notice that there is an area of Light - reflected off the light green trees in the luminous evanescent distance representing, God and Paradise Regained.

Now look at the dark area to the middle-left (on the left-hand side of the ghostly main oak) to find - a 'region' of indescribable darkness representing, Satan and Paradise Lost. `
'And the Light shineth in Darkness; and the Darkness comprehended it not' The Gospel according to St John. Chapter I, Verse V (5).