The Garden of Eden
- Created by
- Duncanson, Robert S., American, 1821 - 1872
- Date
- 1852
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- H x W x D (Frame): 40 11/16 × 56 3/8 × 4 1/8 in. (103.3 × 143.2 × 10.5 cm)
- H x W x D (Canvas): 32 1/2 × 48 1/2 in. (82.6 × 123.2 cm)
- Caption
- ... the exotic, semitropical Eden depicted in Duncanson’s painting is emblematic of America as the primitive, wilderness garden, "a perfect earth." J. D. Ketner
- This is a smaller version of a painting Robert Duncanson presented to Rev. Charles Avery, a well-known abolitionist, for his efforts on behalf of the enslaved. The painting of the same subject by celebrated Hudson River School artist Thomas Cole served as Duncanson's inspiration. When he traveled to Europe, Duncanson enjoyed a sense of freedom and self-worth that he could not always experience in the United States. This work symbolizes the hoped-for "Eden" of his own country.
- Encouraged in his career by Cincinnati philanthropist Nicholas Longworth, Duncanson’s most famous commission was a series of landscape murals for Longworth’s mansion, Belmont.
- Description
- This oil painting depicts a landscape scene. Numerous trees, including palm trees, frame the image on the left and right. The center of the image is an open clearing with a small stream running through a meadow covered with greenery and flowers. Further back into the painting the clearing opens up into a wide meadow. There are two small nude human figures on the right side of the meadow. Beyond the meadow is a lake fed by a waterfall. In the background is a single conical mountain.
- Classification
- Visual Arts
- Type
- paintings
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Louis Moore Bacon
- Object number
- 2014.299
- Restrictions & Rights
- Public Domain
- Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.