Everything about Thomas Cole totally explained
Thomas Cole (
February 1,
1801 -
February 11,
1848) was a 19th century
American artist. He is regarded as the founder of the
Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century. Cole's Hudson River School, as well as his own work, was known for its realistic and detailed portrayal of American landscape and wilderness, which feature themes of
romanticism and
naturalism.
Early life and education
He was born in
Bolton,
Lancashire,
England. In 1818 his family emigrated to the United States, settling in
Steubenville, Ohio, where Cole learned the rudiments of his profession from a wandering portrait painter named Stein. However, he'd little success painting portraits, and his interest shifted to
landscape. Moving to
Pittsburgh in 1823 and then to
Philadelphia in 1824, where he drew from casts at the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, he rejoined his parents and sister in
New York City early in 1825.
Painting
In New York he sold three paintings to George W. Bruen, who financed a summer trip to the
Hudson Valley where he visited the
Catskill Mountain House and painted the ruins of Fort Putnam. Returning to New York he displayed three
landscapes in the window of a bookstore; according to the
New York Evening Post, this garnered Cole the attention of
John Trumbull,
Asher B. Durand, and
William Dunlap. Trumbull was especially impressed with the work of the young artist and sought him out, bought one of his paintings, and put him into contact with a number of his wealthy friends including Robert Gilmor of
Baltimore and
Daniel Wadsworth of
Hartford, who became important patrons of the artist.
Cole was primarily a painter of
landscapes, but he also painted allegorical works. The most famous of these are the five-part series,
The Course of Empire, now in the collection of the
New York Historical Society and the four-part
The Voyage of Life. There are two versions of the latter, one at the
National Gallery in
Washington, D.C., the other at the
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in
Utica, New York.
Cole influenced his artistic peers, especially
Asher B. Durand and
Frederic Edwin Church, who studied with Cole from 1844 to 1846. Cole spent the years 1829 to 1832 and 1841-1842 abroad, mainly in
England and
Italy; in Florence he lived with the sculptor
Horatio Greenough.
Catskills
After 1827 he maintained a studio at the farm called
Cedar Grove in the town of
Catskill, New York. He painted a significant portion of his work in this studio. In 1836 he married Maria Bartow of Catskill, a niece of the owner, and became a year-round resident. He died at Catskill on
February 11,
1848. The fourth highest peak in the Catskills is named
Thomas Cole Mountain in his honor. Cedar Grove, also known as the
Thomas Cole House, was declared a
National Historic Site in 1999.
Architecture work
Cole dabbled in architecture, a not uncommon practice at the time when the profession wasn't so codified. Cole was an entrant in the design competition held in 1838 to create a new state government building in
Columbus, Ohio. His entry won third premium, and many contend that the finished building, a composite of the first, second and third place entries, bears a great similarity to Cole's entry.
Further Information
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