2-742-272 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Storm in the Mountains, 1847. Dominating this composition is a lightning-blasted tree embodying nature's awe-inspiring power and endless cycle of life and death. A popular motif because of these associations, the blasted tree was favored by many landscape painters like Church and his teacher Thomas Cole. Notice the strong similarity between this tree and the one appearing at lower left in Cole's View of Schroon Mountain, on view nearby.