Icebergs off Greenspond, Canada

Frederic Edwin Church's study sketches capture the dramatic geology of Arctic icebergs encountered off Newfoundland. These rapid pen-and-ink notations, with selective wash highlights, record Church's direct observation during his 1859 expedition to document the Canadian landscape. The sketches reveal the artist's working method: gestural outlines capturing massive forms, architectural detail, and the relationship between ice and sea. Church would synthesize such field studies into monumental studio paintings that defined American landscape art in the nineteenth century, combining scientific accuracy with romantic grandeur.