Architectural Sketches near Tlalmanalco and Miraflores, Mexico

Frederic Edwin Church's field sketches document pre-Columbian and colonial architectural forms encountered during travels through Mexico. The upper drawing shows a decorative arch with geometric patterning and ornamental details; the lower sketch depicts a structure with vertical elements and a pitched roof. Church's approach combines precise draftsmanship with rapid notation, capturing both decorative vocabulary and structural logic. These studies informed his larger landscape compositions and reflect nineteenth-century artistic engagement with non-European architectural traditions, blending archaeological interest with the picturesque aesthetic priorities of Hudson River School painting.