Antelao, From Cortina, with Studies of Flowers

About this artwork

Research in Progress

Art Historical Context

Samuel Colman, an American artist active from the mid-nineteenth into the early twentieth century, this landscape drawing or painting on July 9, 1904. Titled *Antelao, From Cortina, with Studies of Flowers*, the work captures a view of the dramatic Antelao peak in the Italian Dolomites as seen from Cortina d’Ampezzo, while also incorporating delicate floral studies. Such combinations of sweeping mountain scenery and intimate botanical details were characteristic of artists who traveled widely to record both grand vistas and the smaller wonders of nature. Now part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection, the piece was generously donated by Mrs. Samuel Colman. Its classification as a landscape places it within a long tradition of American artists documenting European terrain, reflecting the era’s fascination with alpine travel and natural beauty. Because research on the work is still in progress and the medium remains unidentified, visitors are invited to appreciate the evocative title and the quiet testimony it offers to Colman’s late-career explorations.