Thomas Cole

A native of England, Thomas Cole immigrated to America with his family at the age of 17, settling first in Ohio and Pennsylvania. He studied for a time at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. By 1825, he had made his way to New York City; soon after, he made the first of many trips north into the Hudson Valley and further into New England in search of authentic American scenery. Over the course of his career, he achieved a notable degree of success, attracting the attention of prominent patrons, traveling to Europe for study and painting trips, taking on the promising young painter Frederic Church as a pupil, and helping to found the National Academy of Design in 1826.

Cole specialized in romantic and expressive views, capturing what he considered to be the essence of American landscape—its ruggedness, wildness, and vastness (see, for example, Kaaterskill Falls from 1826). With his dramatic and sublime evocations of nature, Cole suggested the awesome presence of a divine spirit. He also produced several allegorical paintings contemplating the transitory nature of man’s creations, such as his 1836 series The Course of Empire.

Cole died at the age of 47 in Catskill, New York. After his death, the romantic poet and writer William Cullen Bryant delivered a eulogy in which he lamented the loss of a genius who was “not only a great artist but a great teacher; the contemplation of his works made men better.”