The Aegean Sea

Frederic Edwin Church

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Church toured the Near East and Europe in 1867–69. "The Aegean Sea," his final large-scale picture, is a “composite” landscape, based on sketches and photographs the artist had made in disparate locations: on the left are elements of the carved-rock city of Petra, in present-day Jordan; on the right, ancient Roman columns seen in Syria; and in the distance, a mosque suggesting Constantinople and classical ruins evoking the Acropolis in Athens. A double rainbow provides brilliant illumination for the idealized scene. These Old World sites, hallowed by history and the Bible, helped to confirm Church’s beliefs at a time when new scientific discoveries challenged his faith.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art