Syria by the Sea

1873

Frederic Edwin Church American, 1826-1900

On View

American, Level 2, West Wing

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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About the Artwork

Title Syria by the Sea

Artwork Date 1873

Artist Frederic Edwin Church

Life Dates 1826-1900

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 56 × 85 inches (142.2 × 215.9 cm) Framed: 80 × 108 × 5 1/2 inches (203.2 × 274.3 × 14 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department American Art before 1950

Credit Gift of Mrs. James F. Joy

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 10.11

Markings

Signed Signed and dated, lower right (on stone fragment): F. E. Church | 1873

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

ca. 1873-74, James Frederick Joy (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

1886, Mrs. James F. Joy (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

1910-present, gift to the Detroit Museum of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Published References

Exh. cat., The National Museum of American Art. 1873, no. 16. [transcribed by Louis Yang]

Detroit Art Loan Exhibition. Exh. cat., Detroit Museum of Art. Detroit, 1883, p. 16, no. 118.

“Important Acquisitions.” Bulletin of the DMA 4, 4 (October 1910): p. 43.

Handbook of Modern Paintings Belonging to the Detroit Museum of Art. Detroit, 1910, pp. 11-12.

The World of the Romantic Artists; A Survey of American Culture from 1800 to 1875. Exh. cat. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1944, no. 74.

Huntington, D.C. Frederic Edwin Church 1826-1900: Painter of the Adamic New World Myth. Ph. D. diss., Yale University, 1960, p. 203.

American 19th Century Painting. Exh. cat., Michigan State University Department of Art. East Lansing, 1966, no. 28 (ill.).

Huntington, D.C. The Landscapes of Frederic Edwin Church. New York, 1966, p. 96.

DIA Handbook. 1971, p. 143.

Close Observation: Selected Oil Sketches by Frederic E. Church. Exh. cat., University of Michigan Museum of Art. Ann Arbor, 1979.

“Family Art Game.” DIA Advertising Supplement. Detroit Free Press (April 26, 1981): p. 28 (ill.).

Davis, John Harlan. “Frederic Church’s Sacred Geography.” Smithsonian Studies in American Art 1 (Spring 1987): pp. 90-91.

Frederic Edwin Church. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1989, no. 47.

Davis, John Harlan. Picturing Palestine: The Holy Land in Nineteenth-Century American Art and Culture. Ph. D. diss., Columbia University, 1991, pp. 263-268.

Carr, Gerald L. “Frederic Edwin Church and Italy.” The Italian Presence in American Art, 1860-1920. New York, 1992, pp. 33-34.

Carr, Gerald L. Frederic Edwin Church: Catalogue Raisonné of Works of Art at Olana State Historic Site. New York, 1994, pp. 369, 391, 398.

Davis, John Harlan. The Landscape of Belief: Encountering the Holy Land in Nineteenth-Century American Art and Culture. Princeton, 1996, pp. 197-201.

American Paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Volume II. New York, 1997, pp. 52-56 (ill.).

In Search of the Promised Land: Frederic Edwin Church and Exploration. Exh. cat., Berry-Hill Galleries. New York, 2000.

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