The Aegean Sea
Frederic Edwin Church American
Church toured West Asia and Europe in 1867–69. The Aegean Sea, his final large-scale picture, is a composite landscape, based on sketches and photographs he had made in different locations: at left are elements of the carved-rock city of Petra, in present-day Jordan; at right, ancient Roman columns seen in Syria; and in the distance, a mosque suggesting Constantinople and classical ruins evoking the Acropolis in Athens. These old world sites, hallowed by history and the Bible, helped affirm Church’s religious beliefs at a time when new scientific discoveries were challenging his faith.
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