# The Parthenon

**Frederic Edwin Church** (American, 1826–1900)  
1871  
Oil on canvas  
44 1/2 x 72 5/8 in. (113 x 184.5 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15.30.67. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/10482).

## About this work

The Parthenon rises on the Acropolis, its broken colonnade and the marble fragments scattered around it set down with careful precision. Frederic Church, the leading American landscape painter of his generation, visited Athens in 1869 during an extended journey through Europe and the Near East, and painted this large canvas two years later. He presents the temple frankly as a ruin, at once a monument to classical ideals and a reflection on the passage of time.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Frederic Edwin Church painted this in 1871, aged 45. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Frederic Edwin Church](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/frederic-edwin-church)

American, 1826–1900; born in Hartford, Connecticut; died in New York

Church studied with Thomas Cole in the Catskills and became the most celebrated American landscape painter of the mid-nineteenth century. He travelled to South America, the Arctic, Europe and the Near East in search of grand subjects, and pictures such as Heart of the Andes drew paying crowds when exhibited on their own in New York. Twilight in the Wilderness of 1860 is among his most admired American views. He later designed his own house, Olana, overlooking the Hudson River.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: American
- The artist was 45
- Real size: about 44 × 73 in (113 × 185 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 18 × 24 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Hudson River School](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/hudson-river-school)
- Subjects: Ruins
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/813.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/813/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-parthenon-met-10482).