It is May 1857 in New York City inside the private art galleries of Williams,

Stevens, and William.

In a dimly lit room, an eager crowd of customers has paid 25 cents ahead to view a rare and thrilling spectacle.

The unveiling of Niagara, a magnificent new panorama of the American frontier, painted by the rising celebrity artist Frederick

Edwin Church. Shrouded in dark cloth, the massive canvas measures over seven feet in length

and stands in a monumentally sized wooden frame, artfully lit by

gas lanterns.

More than a mere art show, this reveal is intended to be a dramatic visual experience and sure enough as the shroud is

lifted it does not disappoint. The painting is astonishing. In breathtaking detail, Church has perfectly rendered the unbridled glory of the Niagara River,

its roiling waters plummeting precipitously over Horseshoe Falls. The painting will be viewed by thousands before it

tours the nation and the world.

For all his bold genius and commercial showmanship, Frederick Edwin Church was part of something

greater. An entire art movement known

eventually as the Hudson River School of Painting. Church owed much of his training

to an artist who had come to be known as the founder of this movement, Thomas Cole.

These artists, master and pupil who could not have been more different in style and intent,

would go far together in framing an image of North America that would illustrate both the spirit of the continent and the nation which sought to conquer it. Hello everyone. I'm Don Wildman. welcome to American History Hit.

Along the eastern seaboard, early 19th century America

was a land on the precipice of massive industrial change

and social upheaval that would be coming

in a short several decades.

In New York's Hudson Valley, which extends 150 miles north of the city to Albany, these

...