Artwork
The Camp Meeting
The Camp Meeting is an oil painting by the Hudson River School artist Worthington Whittredge. It dates from 1874 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Accession no.
- 13.39.1
- Credit line
- Amelia B. Lazarus Fund, 1913
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The Camp Meeting (1874) by Worthington Whittredge portrays a crowded outdoor religious gathering framed by a dominant tree, merging natural scenery with a moment of communal worship. The tree functions as a symbolic anchor, suggesting shelter, stability, and divine oversight within the revivalist context of 19th-century American Protestantism. By situating the scene in a cultivated landscape, the work reflects the era's emphasis on nature as a conduit for spiritual experience and the sanctification of public religious practice.
The painting is housed in The American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, underscoring its significance as a visual record of cultural and religious life in post-Civil War America.
Technique & Style
Stylistically, it belongs to the landscape tradition, depicting trees and open terrain in keeping with Whittredge's broader oeuvre of natural scenery.
The Camp Meeting is executed in oil on canvas, a standard support for mid-nineteenth-century American landscape practice. The work is rendered on a notably horizontal canvas, measuring 40.6 cm in height by 103.3 cm in width, giving it an expansive panoramic format suited to its landscape subject. Stylistically, it belongs to the landscape tradition, depicting trees and open terrain in keeping with Whittredge's broader oeuvre of natural scenery.
The painting is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and classified within the museum's American Wing.
History & Provenance
The Camp Meeting was painted by Worthington Whittredge in 1874. The oil-on-canvas work measures 40.6 × 103.3 cm and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it resides within the American Wing. No intervening private owners are documented between the artist's creation and its museum acquisition, and no exhibition history beyond the permanent collection is recorded in the available sources.
Overview
Worthington Whittredge's The Camp Meeting, painted in 1874, exemplifies the American landscape tradition of the Hudson River School. This oil on canvas depicts a serene forest interior, bathed in filtered sunlight. The work showcases Whittredge's skill in rendering natural light and atmosphere, reflecting his prominence among American landscape painters of his era.
Context
Worthington Whittredge was a significant figure within the Hudson River School, a group of 19th-century American landscape artists. He was a contemporary of notable painters such as Albert Bierstadt and Sanford Robinson Gifford. Whittredge's standing in the art world was further solidified by his later service as president of the National Academy of Design, underscoring his influence and respect among his peers.
Artist & collection
Artist
Thomas Worthington Whittredge (May 22, 1820 – February 25, 1910) was an American artist of the Hudson River School.
