Curatorial Narrative Frederic Edwin Church’s “Houses, ‘Mt. Salus'” (1865) occupies a pivotal position within the artist’s oeuvre, bridging his earlier explorations of landscape and light with the more intimate, architectural studies that would come to characterize his later work. Executed in an impasto style that imbues the painting’s earthy tones brown and beige hues accented by vibrant reds from the doors and lush greens from the foliage with a tactile, almost three-dimensional quality, “Houses” exemplifies Church’s unique ability to distill the essence of his subjects into a language both poetic and precise. By eschewing the grand vistas and atmospheric effects that had come to define the Hudson River School, Church instead focuses on the modest, vernacular buildings that dot the landscape around Mt. Salus, imbuing them with a quiet dignity and sense of history.Upon enlargement to its original dimensions (90×44 inches), “Houses