This is another post in my series about Charlotte Mason's picture study technique for homeschool art appreciation. Today, I am focusing on another American artist who created breathtaking American landscapes, Thomas Cole. The following links
What attracts me to Thomas Cole (February 1, 1801 – February 11, 1848) is that he was the founder of the Hudson River School, a group of American artists who sought to depict the unspoiled majesty of the American landscape around the Hudson River Valley in New York State. I love that part of the state and Cole was the first to explore this territory, taking steamboat trips up the valley starting in the mid-1820s onwards, and his work influenced a whole generation of American
Romantic Landscape with Ruined Tower, 1836, Thomas Cole Medium: oil
Fine Art Connoisseur serves art collectors and enthusiasts with innovative articles about representational paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints — both historical and contemporary, American and European. Over the past decade, the magazine has developed a particularly strong reputation for its editorial coverage of realism, a field of artistic excellence generally overlooked by other periodicals. Published six times per year, Fine Art Connoisseur is now a widely consulted platform for the world’s most knowledgeable experts, who write articles that inform readers and give them the tools necessary to make better purchasing decisions. Fine Art Connoisseur‘s jargon-free text and large color illustrations are attracting an ever-growing readership passionate about high-quality artworks and the fascinating stories around them. In addition to artworks and artists, Fine Art Connoisseur covers the museums, galleries, fairs, auction houses, and private collections where great art is found. In all cases, the maga
Childhood. Youth. Manhood. Old Age. Thomas Cole (1 February 1801, Bolton-le-moors, Lancashire, England – 11 February 1848...
Childhood. Youth. Manhood. Old Age. Thomas Cole (1 February 1801, Bolton-le-moors, Lancashire, England – 11 February 1848, Catskill, New York), American artist known for his highly romantic landscapes and fantastical historical/allegorical tableaux, he is also regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School. Born in England, his family emigrated to the United States in 1818, settling in Steubenville, Ohio. At the age of twenty-two he moved to Philadelphia, and two years later, to New York City with his family. Cole found work early on as an engraver. By 1822 he had started his career as a portrait painter, but gradually shifted his focus to landscape painting. He also painted - and is probably best remembered for - grand allegorical works. The most famous of these is the five-part series, The Course of Empire, which depicts the same landscape over a long span of time - from its nearly natural state to the culmination and triumph of empire, then its subsequent decline and ruin - and the four-part The Voyage of Life, featured here. He was largely self-taught as a painter, relying on books and by studying the work of other artists, but was very much an influence on other painters, especially Asher B. Durand and Frederic Edwin Church. Cole went abroad several times, spending years at a time traveling in Europe, mainly in England and Italy. From 1827 he maintained a studio at a farm in the town of Catskill, New York, and nine years later he married a niece of the farm's owner; together they had five children. He became a year-round resident of Catskill, and a significant portion of his work was completed in his studio there. He died there, only ten days after his forty-seventh birthday. Gorgeous boat. (Just watch out for all the poke-y wings.) I'm guessing these botanical specimens are not all entirely correct...? Perhaps a vision of heaven...? At a time like this - about to go over the falls - less praying, more steering might be the way to go. Oh, but it looks like he's lost his tiller.... If you look up into the clouds and see something like this, it's probably a bad sign. The boat of life has lost its angel figurehead along with the hourglass it held..... Little angels almost invisible in the heavenly radiance.
Two Romantic series from the founder of the Hudson River School, showing the rise and loss of civilisation, and the stages of life.
This is another post in my series about Charlotte Mason's picture study technique for homeschool art appreciation. Today, I am focusing on another American artist who created breathtaking American landscapes, Thomas Cole. The following links
I have been writing about great art for several years now. I curated a gallery featuring 100 of my favorites (at the bottom of this page). I clearly have a bias towards nature and color! You can also download a ZIP file of this gallery here (do this on your computer, not your mobile or
Nature in the paintings of Thomas Cole stands as a monument to the dreams and anxieties of the early American nation.
Childhood. Youth. Manhood. Old Age. Thomas Cole (1 February 1801, Bolton-le-moors, Lancashire, England – 11 February 1848, Catskill, New York), American artist known for his highly romantic landscapes and fantastical historical/allegorical tableaux, he is also regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School. Born in England, his family emigrated to the United States in 1818, settling in Steubenville, Ohio. At the age of twenty-two he moved to Philadelphia, and two years later, to New York City with his family. Cole found work early on as an engraver. By 1822 he had started his career as a portrait painter, but gradually shifted his focus to landscape painting. He also painted - and is probably best remembered for - grand allegorical works. The most famous of these is the five-part series, The Course of Empire, which depicts the same landscape over a long span of time - from its nearly natural state to the culmination and triumph of empire, then its subsequent decline and ruin - and the four-part The Voyage of Life, featured here. He was largely self-taught as a painter, relying on books and by studying the work of other artists, but was very much an influence on other painters, especially Asher B. Durand and Frederic Edwin Church. Cole went abroad several times, spending years at a time traveling in Europe, mainly in England and Italy. From 1827 he maintained a studio at a farm in the town of Catskill, New York, and nine years later he married a niece of the farm's owner; together they had five children. He became a year-round resident of Catskill, and a significant portion of his work was completed in his studio there. He died there, only ten days after his forty-seventh birthday. Gorgeous boat. (Just watch out for all the poke-y wings.) I'm guessing these botanical specimens are not all entirely correct...? Perhaps a vision of heaven...? At a time like this - about to go over the falls - less praying, more steering might be the way to go. Oh, but it looks like he's lost his tiller.... If you look up into the clouds and see something like this, it's probably a bad sign. The boat of life has lost its angel figurehead along with the hourglass it held..... Little angels almost invisible in the heavenly radiance.
Childhood. Youth. Manhood. Old Age. Thomas Cole (1 February 1801, Bolton-le-moors, Lancashire, England – 11 February 1848...
