Forest PoolA study of Frederic Edwin Church's first wilderness painting
Interactive study • Prototype

Research & records

References and acknowledgements

The original research credits, catalogue references and list of paintings and sketches cited throughout the study.

Original studyOliver Thiebaud · The Art & Architectural Trust

Historical record: dates, ownership, locations, contact details and any sale statements below are reproduced from the original study. They have not been confirmed as current.

Rocky Forest Pool, inscribed F.E. Church '57 (1857)

Oil on Canvas 24 ¾ ins x 30 ¾ ins
62.8 cms x 77.7 cms

Based on Church's 2 preparatory sketches:

1.) In the New England Woods (now retitled Woodland Stream by Cooper Hewitt) 1856 (AAT attribution).
Size: Museum Notes, H: OM173. W: OM305.
Oil and pencil on card.
Cooper - Hewitt, Design Museum. Ref. DP 1917- 4 - 664A.
And Also

2.) Freeman Brook (?) Near Cuttingsville. Vt. August 1849..
Size: 23 x 28.6 cms
Inscribed in graphite on off-white paper. Olana, Cat. No: 238. OL.1980.1428.
Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, New York.

Dr. Franklin Kelly.

The late, Dr. David C. Huntington.

Dr. Kevin Avery. Curator of American Paintings, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Professor Stephen Jay Gould.

Ass. Prof. Tim Barringer, Yale University.

Janice Slater, National Gallery of Scotland.

Dr. Bruce Chambers.

Dr. Gerald L. Carr.

The late, James Anthony Ryan, Of Olana State Historic Site.

The Smithsonian & The Archives of American Art.

The Archives of American Art.

Brad Nugent, Cooper Hewitt Museum.

Wadsworth Athenium.

Prof. Barbara Novak.

Andrew Wilton, American Sublime Exhibition, Tate Gallery 2002.


The essay on the C.D. and Web site is taken from the thesis:

Frederic Edwin Church: Rocky Forest Pool '57.
The Light on the Water and the Luminous Evanescent Distance;
Paradise Regained.

© Oliver Thiebaud, The Art & Architectural Trust. 1985,1995, 2002.

Further references

Olana State Historic Site:

Cat no. 329 OL1977 0171 - 'Rocky Cascade'
Cat no. 392 OL 1980 1870 - 'Forest Pool' (vol.7)
Cat no. 246 OL1 977 0127 - 'Beldens Falls, Middlebury, Vt, (vol. 6).
Cat. No. 157 OL 1977 0227 - 'Hillside and Stream near a Forest'
Cat. No. 167 - 'The Housatronic River Valley nr. Stockbridge'
Cat. No. 168 - 'The Housatronic River, Moss Covered Boulder (vol.6)

The Archives of American Art:

1917- 4- 854 'Study in the Woods'
DP1917- 4- 861 'A stream in the New England Mountains'
1917- 4- 865 'Upper part of a Cascade.

Paintings and sketches cited in the essay

With thanks to the Owners of these Works for graciously allowing us to use these images. They are all Oil Paintings on canvas by Frederic Edwin Church, unless stated otherwise. In order of appearance in the Essay.

1.& 2. These Preparatory Sketches are directly related to Rocky Forest Pool 1857.
See under heading: Preparatory Sketches.

1. In the New England Woods (now retitled Woodland Stream by Cooper Hewitt) 1856 (AAT attribution)
Size:Museum Notes, H: OM173 W: OM305.
Oil & pencil on card. Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. Ref: DP 1917- 4 - 664A.
It shares, 12-15 similar features with Rocky Forest Pool '57.

2. Freeman Brook (?) Near Cuttingsville. Vt. August 1849.. Size: 23 x 28.6 cms
Graphite on off white paper. Olana, Cat. No: 238. OL.1980.1428.
Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, New York.
It shares 7-10 similar features with Rocky Forest Pool '57.

3. Home by the Lake 1852. ( 81 x 122.6 cms ) Private Collection.
Sold for $ 8,250,000, Sotheby's, New York, May 24th 1989

4. A Country Home 1854. (115.9 x 162.2 cms )
Seattle Art Museum. Gift of Mrs.Paul C. Carmichael.

5. In the Woods 1855, Asher B. Durand. (154.3 x 122.9)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift in memory of Jonathon Sturges, from his children.

6. The Arcadian Shepherds. circa, 1655. Nicholas Poussin
The Louvre, Paris.

7. Scene on Catskill Creek, New York 1847. (54.6 x 75.6 cms)
Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland.

8. Tequandama Falls, Near Bogota, New Granada1854. (162.6 x 101.6 cms)
Cincinnati Art Museum. The Edwin and Virginia Irwin Memorial.

9. The Natural Bridge Virginia 1852. (71.1 x 58.4 cms)
Bayly Art Museum, University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

10. The Andes of Ecuador 1855. (121.9 x 190.5 cms)
Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

11. Niagara 1857. (108 x 229.9 cms)
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

12. The Heart of the Andes 1859. (168 x302.9 cms)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Bequest of Mrs. David Dows.

13. Cotopaxi 1862. (121.9 x 215.9 cms)
The Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase with funds from: Mr. & Mrs. Richard A. Manoogian, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, Gibbs-Williams Fund, Dexter M.Ferry Jr, Fund.
Merril Fund and Beatrice W. Rogers Fund.

14. Twilght in the Wilderness 1860. (101.6 x 162.6 cms)
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. & Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund.

15. The Charter Oak 1847. (56 x 76.3 cms)
Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, New York.

16. The Charter Oak at Hartford 1846-1847. (61 x 91.4 cms)
Private Collection.

17. Mount Ktaadn (Katahdin) 1852. (92.1 x 140.3 cms)
Yale University Art Gallery, Stanley B. Resor, B.A. 1901, Fund.

18. The Evening Star 1858. (19.7 x 26.7 cms)
Private Collection.

19. Sunset 1856. (61 x 91.4 cms)
Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York.

20. Twilight, a sketch 1858. (20.3 x 30.5 cms)
Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, New York.

21. The Icebergs 1861. (163.2 x 285.1 cms)
Dallas Museum of Art, anonymous gift.
Sold for $ 2,750,000 Sotheby's 1979.

22. View of Cotopaxi 1857. (62.2 x 92.7 cms)
The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Jeanette Hamlin in memory of Mr.& Mrs. Louis Dana Webster.

23. Distant view of Sangay Volcano, Ecuador 1857. (22.7 x 36.4 cms)
Oil and pencil on thin board. Cooper Hewitt Museum Gift of Louis P. Church, 1917-4-402.

24. Rocky Cascade circa 1851. (27.6 x 31.8 cms)
Graphite and gouache on light green paper, OL. 1977. 171 (PD391)
Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, New York.

25. To the Memory of Cole 1848. (81.3 x 124.5 cms)
Sold for $ 4,732,000 Sotheby's New York, May 1999.

26. Mount Newport on Mount Desert Island. 1851-1853. (43.8 x 63.5 cms).
Sold for $ 4,186,000 by Christie's New York

27. Cross in the Wilderness 1857. (41.3 x 61.6cms)
Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Lugano, Switzerland.

28. Niagara Falls, from the American Side 1867. (260.4 x 231.1 cms)
National Gallery of Scotland.

29. The Wreck 1852. (76.2 x 116.8)
The Parthenon, Nashville, Tennessee.

30. Morning in the Tropics 1858. (21 x 35.6cms)
Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.

31. Oosisoak (Assissnag)1862
Private Collection.

32. Under Niagara 1862. (121.9 x 182.9 cms)
Location unknown.


Paintings and sketches cited in the footnotes

33. Twilight, 'Short arbiter t'wixt day & night' 1850. (81.9 x 121.9 cms)
The Newark Museum.

34. New England Scenery 1851. (91.4 x 134.6 cms)
George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Springfield, Massachusetts.

35. An Old Man Reminiscences 1842. Asher B. Durand. (97.8 x 148.6 cms)
Albany Institute of History and Art.

36. Clearing up, Coast of Sicily 1847. Andreas Achenbach. (81.9 x 116.2 cms)
The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.

37. Coast Scene, Mount Desert 1863. (86.7 x 121.9 cms)
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut. Bequest of Mrs. Clara Hinton Gould.

38. Lake Scene in Mount Desert Island 1851. (52.6 x 78.4 cms)
Private Collection.

39. Clouds over Olana 1872. (22.1 x 30.8 cms)
Oil on off-white paper Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, New York.

40. Sunset across the Hudson Valley 1870. (32.2 x 35.2 cms)
Cooper- Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Gift of Louis P. Church, 1917-4-582C.

Additional context from the original page

Thanks particularly to, David Huntingdon, Franklin Kelly and Gerald L Carr, Who share the keys to the hidden Treasure of, Frederic Edwin Church.

From the original Rocky Forest Pool study, © Oliver Thiebaud, 1985, 1995, 2002. Wording retained for review, but all interpretations and citations have been extensively discussed directly with Dr David C Huntingdon, James Ryan, Dr Kevin Avery, and Dr Gerald L Carr.

Artwork