Cotopaxi, Frederic Edwin Church
Painted at a turbulent moment in America’s history, before the outbreak of the Civil War, Cotopaxi embodies Church's response to current events. The smoldering volcano in the background carries portents of destruction, and the palm tree—which does not exist on the actual site of Cotopaxi—symbolizes both Latin America and the Garden of Eden. In addition to containing inherent moralistic messages, awe-inspiring American Romantic landscape paintings such as this one also served as documents of distant, exotic sites in the era before photography and modern travel.
