Syria by the Sea

1873

Frederic Edwin Church American, 1826-1900

On View

American, Level 2, West Wing

see it in the community from

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata

About the Artwork

Please note: This section is empty
Markings

Please note: This section is empty

This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.
Provenance

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

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

Please note: This section is empty

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.
Suggest Feedback
Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
Catalogue Raisonné

Please note: This section is empty

A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.
Credit Line for Reproduction

Please note: This section is empty

The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.
Audio Transcript

Please note: This section is empty

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. ----------

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

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, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

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.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

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

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

“Important Acquisitions.” Bulletin of the DMA 4, no. 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. DIA. 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.” Detroit Free Press, April 26, 1981, p. 28 (ill.). [DIA Advertising Supplement].

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, Vol. 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.

Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.

Suggest Feedback