Thomas Cole 1801 to 1848
Even though Thomas Cole was born in Lancaster England, he is often considered the father of American landscape painting as well as the founder of the Hudson River School. Cole immigrated to Philadelphia in 1819 and was an engraver for a brief period. Later he moved to Steubenville, Ohio where he gained some rudimentary instruction in painting from a portrait painter named Stein. Moving back to Pennsylvania to assist with his father’s business in 1823, he made landscape sketches in his free time. During a stay at the Pennsylvania Academy from 1823 to 1825 Cole was inspired by the landscapes of Thomas Doughty and Thomas Birch. He moved to New York in 1825 to pursue oil on canvas landscape paintings and these works attracted the attention of New York’s prominent artists and patrons.
After purchasing several of Cole’s paintings George W. Bruen paid for Cole’s first trip up the Hudson River. Cole and other painters would return paint the Hudson River scenery so frequently that they became known as the Hudson River School. In 1829 Cole was one of the founding members of the National Academy of Design, and in that same year traveled throughout Europe to view works by the Old Masters as well as exploring landscape sites. Cole quickly absorbed the loft ideas of European history painting and planned for a monumental series of large paintings that would trace the evolution of civilization. In 1836, the work titled “The Course of Empire,” was completed and is now in the collection of the New York Historical Society. Cole completed the four-canvas religious allegory, “The Voyage of Life” in 1840. Other allegorical works followed and were regarded with high esteem but most of Cole’s patrons preferred his American scenes. This preference to his landscapes disappointed Cole who was a religious man and a romantic. Although Cole had only one student his influence on the New York art community fostered the careers of many Hudson River School artists. Thomas Cole died in 1848 in Catskill, New York after several months of poor health.