Thomas Cole

Thomas Cole, who came to the United States from England with his family when he was 19, was the founder of the Hudson River School of landscape painting which emphasized the bright local color in opposition to the "brown landscape" of European tradition. Cole sought moral inspiration and ethical instruction from the contemplation of nature because in nature was to be found the "inseparable connection between the beautiful and the good." It was this that fueled his preferred and best known allegorical works, such as "Course of Empire"(New York Historical Society). These monumental canvases were developed after an inspiring trip to Italy in the early 1830's. Cole also painted the American landscape and did extensive sketching from nature in the Adirondacks, the Catskills, the White Mountains and the coast of Maine. In 1836 he married Maria Barstow and settled in Catskill, New York were he taught his neighbor, landscape painter Frederic Church. Thomas Cole died in Catskill, on February 11, 1848, after a brief and sudden illness. His death was universally mourned. His work influence two generations of American landscape painters.

Thomas Cole Images:
River in the Catskills