Drawing, The Chariot of the Sun Fantasy

Frederic Edwin Church

probably 1868–69

brush and oil on tan paperboard

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Landscape sketch showing an imagined view of the Chariot of the Sun riding across the twilight sky above a body of water surrounded by mountains. The rippling surface of a lake or inlet comprises the foreground and part of the middle distance as it reflects the golden-orange glow of the sun above. A group of ancient ruins, including a pair of columns, is situated atop a small prominence in the middle distance at left. A dark mountain range span across the horizon and features a sharp peak at right. Above, the sun stands in as the wheel of a fantastic cosmic chariot, likely representing Apollo's (in the Roman tradition) or Helios's (