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Church painted panoramic vistas of scenes from New England to South America, but in this canvas he offers a symbolic image of America during the Civil War.

The 31-star flag of the Union flutters amidst the smoke of battle as a symbol of Church's belief in the eventual triumph of the Union.

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Frederic Edwin Church

Our Flag, 1864

oil on canvas

21 ½ x 13 ½ in.

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene C. Pulliam

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Frederic Edwin Church is known as one of America’s great landscape painters, bridging the era of the pioneering Hudson River Romantics and the late nineteenth century painters of the American West. The only pupil of Thomas Cole, with whom he studied from 1844-1846, the precocious Church was immediately successful and a full member of the National Academy of Design by the age of 24.  He acquired an interest in the importance of nature as a force in itself, abandoning his teacher’s allegories for a transcendentalist vision of both the North and the South American landscape.  The writings and example of the great naturalist Baron von Humboldt helped direct Church both to new world subjects and a dramatic but naturalistic view of nature.  Church later traveled through Europe, the Middle East and even to the Arctic, and his large-scale depictions of exotic locales made him one of the most successful artists in the country in the third quarter of the century.  He lived in New York until his beloved Hudson River castle, Olana, was completed in the mid-70s and the majority of his later paintings are based on the scenery of that area and Northern New England.  The artist’s brushstroke also evolved through the years: an early painterliness was gradually replaced by a smoother surface, and the contours and edges assumed a more pronounced definition.  Nevertheless, many of Church’s landscapes retain all the emotional quality of Cole at his most dramatic and heroic.

Our Flag is a striking example of Church’s work.  In this canvas he offers a symbolic image of the American Republic during the Civil War.  The 31-star flag of the Union flutters above the crags of a mountain peak and smoke of battle. An optimist, Church perceived the glories of nature as emblems of the inevitable progress and triumph of the spirit.  The setting sun that illuminates the flag illustrates Church’s belief in the virtual triumph of the Union. 

Reference

Gerald L. Carr. Frederic Edwin Church: Romantic Landscapes and Seascapes, New York: Adelson Gallery, 2008. ISBN-13: 978-0974162171