Martin Johnson Heade

This painting captures the lush beauty of the Brazilian rainforest as it existed in the mid-1800s, but if it were painted today, a different scene might be depicted. In the first three months of 2022, Brazil set a record for Amazon deforestation, losing 363 square miles of rainforest—an area larger than New York City—during that time. According to the World Wildlife Federation, if the current rate of deforestation continues, the Amazon will be without trees by the year 2030.

–Julie D’Amico, marketing and public relations manager

The lure of science and exotic climates diverted Heade from New England to South America in the 1860s. Sponsored by Emperor Dom Pedro II, he made annotated studies of the flora and fauna he encountered while traveling in Brazil. “From Forest Studies in South America-Tree Fern,” inscribed on the back of this painting, identifies the enormous fronds in the lower right corner. Tiny figures suggest the vast scale and density of the jungle environment.

Heade completed Brazilian Forest in a London studio, then sold it to Governor Henry Lippitt of Rhode Island after his return.

In late 1863 Martin Johnson Heade traveled to Brazil on a joint scientific and artistic mission. Seeking local species of hummingbirds to depict in oil paintings and chromolithographs, he also indulged his botanical interests by making carefully annotated sketches of the flora of Brazil’s dense forests, and relied on these the following year when he painted this picture in his London studio. The painting’s featured specimen, a tall fern that springs from the right foreground, is bathed in a soft light that distinguishes the structure of each frond. As a narrative touch, Heade added a figure in a straw hat and a tiny dog who discover the sparkling waterfall at the center of the composition.