A cluster of twenty-two houses and a white church are arranged across rolling green hills in this mid-19th-century painting by an unknown artist. The buildings are depicted with simplified geometric forms, each house painted in pale tones with red or brown roofs, and the church distinguished by its tall, narrow steeple and a bare tree beside it. The landscape is divided by winding paths and low fences, with sparse trees dotting the scene, all rendered in a flat, stylized manner.

The sky is painted in muted grays and blues, suggesting an overcast day, while the overall composition is orderly and rhythmic, emphasizing repetition and symmetry. Works of this type, often referred to as folk or naïve art, were common in rural America during the mid-19th century. Such paintings typically depicted local villages, farmsteads, and community landmarks with an emphasis on clarity and pattern rather than strict realism. Twenty-two Houses and a Church is executed in a water-based medium on canvas, a typical choice for amateur and itinerant artists of the era.

This painting is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington.