Rainy Season in the Tropics
Frederic Edwin Church, 1866
A double rainbow after a storm in a land of palms. The Civil War over. The country needing a sky that still worked. The light keeps its promise.
About this work
Frederic Edwin Church painted Rainy Season in the Tropics in 1866, and it is one of his most celebrated works. A double rainbow arcs over a mist-filled gorge, rising above craggy peaks and humid green jungle. A passing shower sweeps away to the left, while on the right the clouds part to show bright blue sky. There is no ground for the viewer to stand on: we hang in the air, looking down on a waterfall and a rocky canyon. The scene is imaginary and theatrical, but many details are accurately observed. The reversed colours of the second rainbow are painted so precisely that Church may have consulted a scientific treatise, and the plants at lower right come from sketches he made in Jamaica. Church and his wife Isabel went to the island in 1865, grieving after both of their young children died of diphtheria that March. They came home the following year expecting another child, and many scholars read the painting as a sign of renewed hope, both personal and national after the end of the Civil War. Church had been the only pupil of Thomas Cole. The canvas, 56¼ × 84¼ inches, is in the de Young museum in San Francisco.
Sources: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco · Google Arts & Culture · Wikipedia: Frederic Edwin Church
Print facts
- Native resolution
- 9,777 × 6,482 px
- Sharp at 150 ppi up to
- 65 × 43 in
- Sizes
- Small (20 × 13 in) · $100 · 489 ppi
Medium (24 × 16 in) · $150 · 405 ppi
Large (36 × 24 in) · $300 · 270 ppi - Price includes
- Frame and US shipping · 14–21 days · 30-day returns
FAQ
Where can I buy a framed print of Rainy Season in the Tropics?
Here. Rainy Season in the Tropics is available as a framed print in three sizes: Small (20 × 13 in) for $100, Medium (24 × 16 in) for $150 and Large (36 × 24 in) for $300. Prices include the frame and US shipping; delivery takes 14–21 days, with 30-day returns.
What size works best for Rainy Season in the Tropics?
The file is 9,777 × 6,482 px, so every size is sharp: even Large (36 × 24 in) prints at 270 ppi. Choose Large (36 × 24 in) for a large wall; Small (20 × 13 in) suits a narrower space.
Is it legal to print Rainy Season in the Tropics?
Yes. Rainy Season in the Tropics is in the public domain: its copyright, if it ever had one, expired long ago. In the United States a faithful photograph of a public-domain painting does not create a new copyright (Bridgeman v. Corel, 1999), so the image can be printed and sold freely.
