Fogo Island, Brimstone Head, and Change Island Rocks, Canada

Frederic Edwin Church's three horizontal landscape sketches document the rocky coastline of Newfoundland with precise topographic observation. Working in graphite on paper, Church captures the distinctive profiles of geological formations—jagged peaks and stratified cliffs rendered in quick, assured strokes. These studies served as preparatory work for the Hudson River School painter's larger compositions, translating fieldwork into finished canvases. Church's methodology exemplifies nineteenth-century landscape practice: the artist sketched from nature, annotating observations and atmospheric conditions, then synthesized these studies into monumental studio paintings that celebrated North American wilderness and geological grandeur.