Palm Trees, Jamaica

Frederic Edwin Church, American, 1826–1900 · June 1865

Landscape and botanical sketch showing three palm trees growing on a steep hillside in Jamaica. At right, the coarse, scaly trunks of two palm trees are shown situated on a hilltop with mixed vegetation growing at their bases. The fronds of these trees are minimally shown at upper right, largely cut out of the frame. At left, the top of another palm tree with a lush crown of fronds is shown in meticulous detail. The base of its trunk is out of view, as it grows from a lower point on the hillside. Its many individually rendered leaves and fronds bend softly in the breeze. Ferns grow from the crevices of each tree's scaly trunk. Behind, the clear, open sky is rendered as a gradient from gray-green at the horizon to light blue, above.