The First Vision refers to a theophany which Latter Day Saints believe Joseph Smith experienced in the early 1820s, in a wooded area in Manchester, New York, called the Sacred Grove. Smith described it as a vision in which he received instruction from God the Father and Jesus Christ.
Stained glass depiction of Joseph Smith's First Vision, completed in 1913 by an unknown artist (Church History Museum, Salt Lake City).
Joseph Smith said his first vision occurred in a grove of trees near his home.
George Edward Anderson's photograph of the Smith Family Farm in Manchester, New York, c. 1907. (LDS Archives)
Photograph of the Sacred Grove by George Edward Anderson, circa 1907
Theophany is an encounter with a deity that manifests in an observable and tangible form. It is often confused with other types of encounters with a deity, but these interactions are not considered theophanies unless the deity reveals itself in a visible form. Traditionally, the term "theophany" was used to refer to appearances of the gods in ancient Greek and Near Eastern religions. While the Iliad is the earliest source for descriptions of theophanies in classical antiquity, the first description appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Peter Paul Rubens' Death of Semele, caused by the Theophany of Zeus without a mortal disguise
Teofanía ("Theophany") by Mexican artist Antonio García Vega
