The Heart of the Andes
Frederic Edwin Church
1859
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, USA
The Hudson River School was an American art movement in the mid-19th century, wherein artists took a romantic approach to untouched landscapes, most prominently the Hudson River Valley, the Catskills, the Adirondacks and the Berkshires. As the movement gained in popularity among art collectors, and combined with literary artists such as Thoreau and Emerson, the idea of conservation began to take form. Eventually, partially due to these artists and their depiction of America’s breathtaking landscapes, the National Park Service came to be, and preservation of land became a national goal.
Along with Church, other prominent painters of this movement included Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, and Albert Bierstadt.
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