Frederic Church travelled to South America and came home with sketches of mountains, jungles, waterfalls and plants. In New York he combined them into this enormous painting, around three metres wide.

In 1859 it was exhibited on its own in a darkened room, lit by gas lamps and framed like a window, and people paid to see it. Thousands came. Some brought opera glasses or binoculars to examine the details: individual leaves, birds, butterflies and flowers.

Church was inspired by the explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, who had written about the landscapes of South America. He planned to send the painting to Germany for Humboldt to see. But Humboldt died in 1859, before the painting could be shipped.