The Charter Oak at Hartford, c. 1846
Oil on canvas
Gift of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company 2002.1.29

While still a student of Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole, Frederic Church returned to his native Hartford to create this homage to Connecticut’s Charter Oak. In 1687, Connecticut had stood alone in New England in defying James II’s orders to relinquish the 1662 charter that had given the colony a degree of self-government. According to legend, candles in the room where colonists confronted the King’s armed forces sputtered out, and in the darkness the charter was hidden in an ancient oak down the street.

The tree came to represent America’s commitment to freedom in the face of tyranny. Church silhouetted the Charter Oak against the sky and chose not to include a nearby house in order to reinforce the notion of the tree as a timeless symbol of liberty. This painting is one of several that Church completed during the 1840s, each linking the theme of freedom to places and events from Connecticut’s past—a nationalistic tone he would continue to celebrate in his later Hudson River School landscapes.