Thomas Cole
was an English-born American painter known for his landscape and history paintings. One of the major 19th-century American painters, he is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century. Cole's work is known for its romantic portrayal of the American wilderness. Born:February 1, 1801, Bolton le Moors, Lancashire, England Died:February 11, 1848, Catskill, New York, United States of America Nationality:English, American, Westman One of his most famous series of painting is the Course of Empire shown below; the land originates in a natural savage state, and then progresses through a pastoral state, then the state of consumation, followed by destruction and finally a state of desolation. |
Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School
Thomas Cole was the first artist to forge a version of the Romantic Landscape style centered on, and inspired by, the North-American landscape. In so doing, he laid the foundations for the entire style of Romantic painting in North America. He is considered the father of what is known as the Hudson River School. Thomas Cole, the only son of James and Mary Cole was the second youngest of 8 siblings. One boy with 7 sisters. Thomas’ father James was a woolen manufacturer with his business in Bolton but was barely able to provide food on the table for his large family. The business eventually failed and the family had to move from Bolton to Chorley, a town in the same shire. The details of the move, disposition of the family home, repayment of any debts are not known. Needless to say though it was a traumatic experience especially given there would be no institutional support, no welfare or unemployment check would be coming in the mail, no EBT card was provided, you were on your own with a wife and 8 children.
It was a trying time for the whole family. Thomas 9 years old went to school in Chester where from harsh discipline, poor food and sickness he suffered mightily and as he would later recall, I carried these scars into my adulthood. His father was hoping to apprentice Thomas to a lawyer or as an iron manufacturer, both of which were well compensated trades. But it was not to be and Thomas was apprenticed to a print works as an engraver of simple designs for Calico. The work was tedious, the engraving, the dyes and colors, but so began his education into art.
Thomas was somewhat of a loner and the only real friendship he developed was with an old Scotsman who regaled him with ballads and tales of the blue lakes and verdant hills of this native Scotland. In his free time Thomas enjoyed walks with his youngest sister Sarah in the local park, and should they find a a quiet spot Sarah would sing and Thomas play the flute. He also loved to read, to read about foreign lands, especially the American frontier. The American frontier was described in glowing language, the natural beauties of the North American states, The Great Lakes, the great plains, the mighty forests, the Allegheny mountains, the broad rivers, especially the Ohio river kindled his enthusiasm for America.
Did America have more to offer? Thomas’ reading and enthusiasm for America had rubbed off on his father whose fortunes had not improved following the families move to Chorley. In the spring of 1819 the family sailed to America, arriving in Philadelphia on the 3rd of July just in time for independence day celebrations. James Cole tried his hand in the dry goods business opening a small shop with goods he had brought with him from England. Thomas acquired a job as an engraver.
But Philadelphia was hardly the frontier, and feeling his prospects would be better out West James Cole moved the family to the fertile banks of the Ohio river, to a town named Steubenville. Steubenville was named after Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben a Prussian who served as General Washington’s chief of staff during the revolutionary war. Von Steuben is given credit for training and instilling discipline into the Continental Army, and his influence in the success of the war of independence is not to be underestimated. Fort Steuben, Baron von Steuben and George Washington’s role in land speculation and the Ohio survey, are interesting stories in and of themselves and replete with great Westemen. It was said that, in what is now the state of Ohio, it was so densely forested that a squirrel could travel from the banks of Lake Erie to the Ohio river without ever having to touch the ground. Another piece of interesting but unrelated trivia is that the American singer Dean Martin is from Steubenvile. But this is all a story for another day.
While the family moved on to Steubenville, Thomas stayed in Philadelphia for one year before joining his family in Ohio. He would make the journey to Steubenville on foot, a distance of some 340 miles. After many privations, and with minimal success as an artist he eventually would return to Philadelphia in 1823 where is career in art would start to gain traction. Cole's earliest successes came by exhibiting in Philadelphia, having made several notable contacts at the local art academy. Two years later, ready to start a formal artistic career, he moved to New York; once he had settled in the city, he began to take trips along the Hudson River Valley to paint the American wilderness. Cole had a natural innate sense of communion with the landscape of the area, which would inform the content of his paintings throughout his life. The work which he created from this point onwards became the touchstone for the movement in Romantic landscape painting known as the Hudson River School. Cole's career received a major boost in 1825 when he sold a painting to John Trumbull.
Colonel John Trumbull, was already renowned as the painter of the American Revolution, he saw Cole's paintings and instantly purchased one, recommending the artist to two of his other colleagues, historian William Dunlap and artist Asher B. Durand. What Trumbull recognized in the work of the young Cole was the representation of the wildness inherent in the American landscape that artists had previously ignored. Trumbull brought Cole to the attention of various patrons, who began eagerly buying his work. Dunlap publicized the discovery of the new painter and Cole was welcomed into New York's cultural community, which included the poet and editor William Cullen Bryant and the author James Fenimore Cooper. The following year, Cole was elected to the National Academy of Design, where he often exhibited. Cole had, at last, truly arrived as an artist and could now concentrate on fine tuning his technique, safe in the knowledge that his financial future was secured. In 1833, he met his future patron Luman Reed, for whom he began work on the epic series of five paintings known as The Course of the Empire (1836). Every inch of canvas, of every painting of the series is replete with symbolism. The same year, he married Maria Bartow, the niece of a farm-proprietor from whom Cole was renting a studio from in Catskill, New York while he worked on the series. The couple decided to move permanently to Catskill, whose surrounding landscapes richly inspired Cole. It was there, in 1835, that he wrote his influential "Essay on American Scenery", which considers the encroaching threat of industrial development to the natural world:
"there are those who regret that with the improvements of cultivation the sublimity of the wilderness should pass away. for those scenes of solitude from which the hand of nature has been lifted, affect the mind with a more deep toned emotion than aught which the hand of man has touched." The later years of Thomas Cole's career were ones of reflection and frequent sadness. He was deeply troubled by the onward march of urbanization and industrialization that seemed to threaten the American wilderness; he is said to have despised cities, finding, "a presentiment of evil in them". Cole's paintings, meanwhile, still depicting the landscape, increasingly seemed to become vehicles for him to address issues such as the passage of time and history, as in his Voyage of Life series in 1842. Another series rich in symbolism.
Cole was also suffering from a bout of ill health, and in the summer of 1841, he decided to travel once more to Europe. Upon his return to New York a year later, he joined the Episcopal Church, and from this point onwards religion would play an increasingly central role in his life and art as witnessed by the painting depicting the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden. Of the influence of spirituality on art he stated: "Art, in its true sense, is, in fact, man's lowly imitation of the creative power of the Almighty." My desire is that my paintings of the "blue mountains" of the Catskills might grant the viewer "a sweet foretaste of heaven" In 1844, he agreed to take Frederic Edwin Church on as a pupil. This was a fortuitous as Cole would greatly influence the young artist's work, through which the legacy of the Hudson River School, and that of Cole's was ensured.
During the summer of 1847, perhaps longing to be back in nature, Cole traveled again to the Niagara Falls. This would prove to be his last major trip, he died in February the following year at the age of forty-seven.
Thomas Cole was the first artist to forge a version of the Romantic Landscape style centered on, and inspired by, the North-American landscape. In so doing, he laid the foundations for the entire style of Romantic painting in North America. He is considered the father of what is known as the Hudson River School. Thomas Cole, the only son of James and Mary Cole was the second youngest of 8 siblings. One boy with 7 sisters. Thomas’ father James was a woolen manufacturer with his business in Bolton but was barely able to provide food on the table for his large family. The business eventually failed and the family had to move from Bolton to Chorley, a town in the same shire. The details of the move, disposition of the family home, repayment of any debts are not known. Needless to say though it was a traumatic experience especially given there would be no institutional support, no welfare or unemployment check would be coming in the mail, no EBT card was provided, you were on your own with a wife and 8 children.
It was a trying time for the whole family. Thomas 9 years old went to school in Chester where from harsh discipline, poor food and sickness he suffered mightily and as he would later recall, I carried these scars into my adulthood. His father was hoping to apprentice Thomas to a lawyer or as an iron manufacturer, both of which were well compensated trades. But it was not to be and Thomas was apprenticed to a print works as an engraver of simple designs for Calico. The work was tedious, the engraving, the dyes and colors, but so began his education into art.
Thomas was somewhat of a loner and the only real friendship he developed was with an old Scotsman who regaled him with ballads and tales of the blue lakes and verdant hills of this native Scotland. In his free time Thomas enjoyed walks with his youngest sister Sarah in the local park, and should they find a a quiet spot Sarah would sing and Thomas play the flute. He also loved to read, to read about foreign lands, especially the American frontier. The American frontier was described in glowing language, the natural beauties of the North American states, The Great Lakes, the great plains, the mighty forests, the Allegheny mountains, the broad rivers, especially the Ohio river kindled his enthusiasm for America.
Did America have more to offer? Thomas’ reading and enthusiasm for America had rubbed off on his father whose fortunes had not improved following the families move to Chorley. In the spring of 1819 the family sailed to America, arriving in Philadelphia on the 3rd of July just in time for independence day celebrations. James Cole tried his hand in the dry goods business opening a small shop with goods he had brought with him from England. Thomas acquired a job as an engraver.
But Philadelphia was hardly the frontier, and feeling his prospects would be better out West James Cole moved the family to the fertile banks of the Ohio river, to a town named Steubenville. Steubenville was named after Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben a Prussian who served as General Washington’s chief of staff during the revolutionary war. Von Steuben is given credit for training and instilling discipline into the Continental Army, and his influence in the success of the war of independence is not to be underestimated. Fort Steuben, Baron von Steuben and George Washington’s role in land speculation and the Ohio survey, are interesting stories in and of themselves and replete with great Westemen. It was said that, in what is now the state of Ohio, it was so densely forested that a squirrel could travel from the banks of Lake Erie to the Ohio river without ever having to touch the ground. Another piece of interesting but unrelated trivia is that the American singer Dean Martin is from Steubenvile. But this is all a story for another day.
While the family moved on to Steubenville, Thomas stayed in Philadelphia for one year before joining his family in Ohio. He would make the journey to Steubenville on foot, a distance of some 340 miles. After many privations, and with minimal success as an artist he eventually would return to Philadelphia in 1823 where is career in art would start to gain traction. Cole's earliest successes came by exhibiting in Philadelphia, having made several notable contacts at the local art academy. Two years later, ready to start a formal artistic career, he moved to New York; once he had settled in the city, he began to take trips along the Hudson River Valley to paint the American wilderness. Cole had a natural innate sense of communion with the landscape of the area, which would inform the content of his paintings throughout his life. The work which he created from this point onwards became the touchstone for the movement in Romantic landscape painting known as the Hudson River School. Cole's career received a major boost in 1825 when he sold a painting to John Trumbull.
Colonel John Trumbull, was already renowned as the painter of the American Revolution, he saw Cole's paintings and instantly purchased one, recommending the artist to two of his other colleagues, historian William Dunlap and artist Asher B. Durand. What Trumbull recognized in the work of the young Cole was the representation of the wildness inherent in the American landscape that artists had previously ignored. Trumbull brought Cole to the attention of various patrons, who began eagerly buying his work. Dunlap publicized the discovery of the new painter and Cole was welcomed into New York's cultural community, which included the poet and editor William Cullen Bryant and the author James Fenimore Cooper. The following year, Cole was elected to the National Academy of Design, where he often exhibited. Cole had, at last, truly arrived as an artist and could now concentrate on fine tuning his technique, safe in the knowledge that his financial future was secured. In 1833, he met his future patron Luman Reed, for whom he began work on the epic series of five paintings known as The Course of the Empire (1836). Every inch of canvas, of every painting of the series is replete with symbolism. The same year, he married Maria Bartow, the niece of a farm-proprietor from whom Cole was renting a studio from in Catskill, New York while he worked on the series. The couple decided to move permanently to Catskill, whose surrounding landscapes richly inspired Cole. It was there, in 1835, that he wrote his influential "Essay on American Scenery", which considers the encroaching threat of industrial development to the natural world:
"there are those who regret that with the improvements of cultivation the sublimity of the wilderness should pass away. for those scenes of solitude from which the hand of nature has been lifted, affect the mind with a more deep toned emotion than aught which the hand of man has touched." The later years of Thomas Cole's career were ones of reflection and frequent sadness. He was deeply troubled by the onward march of urbanization and industrialization that seemed to threaten the American wilderness; he is said to have despised cities, finding, "a presentiment of evil in them". Cole's paintings, meanwhile, still depicting the landscape, increasingly seemed to become vehicles for him to address issues such as the passage of time and history, as in his Voyage of Life series in 1842. Another series rich in symbolism.
Cole was also suffering from a bout of ill health, and in the summer of 1841, he decided to travel once more to Europe. Upon his return to New York a year later, he joined the Episcopal Church, and from this point onwards religion would play an increasingly central role in his life and art as witnessed by the painting depicting the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden. Of the influence of spirituality on art he stated: "Art, in its true sense, is, in fact, man's lowly imitation of the creative power of the Almighty." My desire is that my paintings of the "blue mountains" of the Catskills might grant the viewer "a sweet foretaste of heaven" In 1844, he agreed to take Frederic Edwin Church on as a pupil. This was a fortuitous as Cole would greatly influence the young artist's work, through which the legacy of the Hudson River School, and that of Cole's was ensured.
During the summer of 1847, perhaps longing to be back in nature, Cole traveled again to the Niagara Falls. This would prove to be his last major trip, he died in February the following year at the age of forty-seven.