Morning in the Tropics

Description Inspired by German scientist Alexander von Humboldt, who explored Latin America at the end of the 18th century, Church traveled widely in search of romantic subjects, visiting South America in 1853 and 1857. Sketches of the spectacular tropical scenery made during his second voyage to Ecuador and Colombia served as the basis for this well-known painting, which was frequently reproduced as a print. William T. Walters purchased this painting in 1858. It was sold at auction at the National Academy of Design in New York, for the benefit of the widow and children of William Ranney, genre painter. Walters paid $555 for this small painting, the highest price achieved at the sale.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
7/10/1959	Treatment	surface cleaned; coated
1/05/1966	Treatment	inpainted
8/10/1978	Treatment	surface cleaned; loss compensation; inpainted; coated
8/10/1978	Treatment	cleaned
2/11/1980	Loan Consideration	examined for loan
11/02/1981	Treatment	examined for loan

Exhibitions

• Major Works in Minor Scale. American Federation of Arts, New York. 1959-1960.
• Romanticism in America. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. 1940.
• Frederic Edwin Church. National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington; Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany; Knoedler & Co., New York. 1966.
• The Taste of Maryland: Art Collecting in Maryland 1800-1934. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1984.
• Highlights from the Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1998-2001.
• The American Artist as Painter and Draftsman. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2001.
• The Walters' American Collection. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2005-2006.
• La peinture Americaine: 1830-1900 (The American Painting). Fondation de l'Hermitage, Lausanne 8. 2014.
• From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2014-2016.

Provenance Acquired by William Ranny (1813-1857); William Ranney Fund Sale, New York, 1858; acquired by William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1858; inherited by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.

Credit Acquired by William T. Walters, 1858