The intrepid Prussian explorer, scientist, diplomat and author Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was reputedly the second best-known person in early nineteenth-century France (Stephen Jay Gould describes him as "probably the world's most famous and influential intellectual [of his time]"), yet he is little known in the US today. From 1799 to 1804, Humboldt traversed about 6,000 miles, journeying through the Spanish American colonies (modern-day Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico and Cuba) to observe nature in the "torrid zone," and later published some 30 volumes about his travels. This catalogue traces the breadth of Humboldt's influence through painting and objects, including work by Albert Bierstadt, Adela Breton, Norton Bush, Frederic Edwin Church, George Catlin, Martin Johnson Heade, Louis Rmy Mignot, Thomas Moran, Johann Moritz Rugendas and Mark Dion.