View from Mount Holyoke (The Oxbow), c.1836

Thomas Cole [1801-1848]

Thomas Cole was born in Bolton-le-Moor, Lancashire, England, February 1, 1801.

His father, a woolen manufacturer, moved the family to Philadelphia in 1819, where he opened a dry-goods shop while Thomas took up wood-engraving which he had already practiced at Liverpool.

The family soon moved to Steubenville, Ohio, where the father set up a wallpaper factory;

Thomas remained in Philadelphia. Thomas rejoined his family in 1820, aiding

his father in the manufacture of wallpaper.

Thomas Cole

His chance meeting with an itinerant portrait painter named Stein resulted in his decision to become an artist.

Stein taught him the rudiments of mixing color and lent him a treatise on the theory of color.

He had little success painting portraits, and his interest shifted to landscape.

Since the wallpaper business was losing

money, his father decided to move to Pittsburgh in 1823.

Thomas again remained behind, painting, but soon joined his family to help in his father’s newest venture: manufacturing floor coverings.

He next spent some months in Philadelphia and then rejoined his family who had moved to New York City.

A New York merchant, George W. Bruen, who had admired some of Cole’s studio paintings, paid his steamboat fare up the river to explore the Catskills.

Cole took the three oil paintings that resulted from this trip to a frame shop on Broadway in New York City where they were seen by Col. John Trumbull, president of the American Academy of Fine Arts and, at the time, one of the most influential men in New York art circles.

Trumbull introduced Cole’s work to collectors and artists alike and from then on his fame spread.

The Hudson River School of landscape painting was launched.

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.

Romanticism (or the Romantic Era) was a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution.

In part, it was a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalisation of nature

It embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education and natural history.

Over the next few years he would spend many weeks in travel and the exploration of scenery in the Catskills and the White Mountains.

In 1826 Cole was invited to become a founder of the National Academy of Design.

In June 1829 he sailed for England, where he stayed for two years;

He toured France and Italy before returning to New York in November 1832.

After 1827 Cole 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.

Thomas and Maria had five children: Theodore Alexander Cole, born January 1, 1838 Mary Bartow Cole, born September 23, 1839 Emily Cole, born August 27, 1843 Elizabeth Cole, born April 5, 1847 (died in infancy) Thomas Cole, Jr., born September 16, 1848

Romanticism

The movement validated strong emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as trepidation, horror and terror and awe—

especially that which is experienced in confronting the sublimity of untamed nature and its picturesque qualities.

His two most famous works, "The Course of Empire" and "The Voyage of Life," were commissioned by Luman Reed and

Samuel Ward, respectively, both of whom died before the works were completed.

The Course of Empire

The first painting, The Savage State, shows the valley from the shore opposite the crag, in the dim light of a dawning stormy day.

A hunter clad in skins hastens through the wilderness, pursuing a deer; canoes paddle up the river; on the far shore can be seen a clearing with a cluster of wigwams around a fire, the nucleus of the city that is to be.

The visual references are those of Native American life.

The Course of Empire The Savage State 1836

The Arcadian or Pastoral State In the second painting, The Arcadian or

Pastoral State, the sky has cleared and we are in the fresh morning of a day in spring or early summer.

The viewpoint has shifted further down the river, as the crag with the boulder is now on the left-hand side of the painting; a forked peak can be seen in the distance beyond it.

Much of the wilderness has given way to settled lands, with plowed fields and lawns visible.

The Course of Empire

Various activities go on in the background: plowing, boat-building, herding sheep, dancing; in the foreground, an old man sketches what may be a geometrical problem with a stick.

On a bluff on the near side of the river, a megalithic temple has been built, and smoke (presumably from sacrifices) arises from it.

The images reflect an idealized, pre-urban ancient Greece.

The Consummation of Empire The third painting, The Consummation of Empire,

shifts the viewpoint to the opposite shore, approximately the site of the clearing in the first painting.

It is noontide of a glorious summer day. Both sides of the river valley are now covered in colonnaded marble structures, whose steps run down into the water.

The megalithic temple seems to have been transformed into a huge domed structure dominating the river-bank.

The mouth of the river is guarded by two pharoses, and ships with lateen sails go out to the sea beyond.

The Course of Empire Consummation

A joyous crowd throngs the balconies and

terraces as a scarlet-robed king or victorious general crosses a bridge connecting the two sides of the river in a triumphal procession.

In the foreground an elaborate fountain gushes.

The overall look suggests the height of ancient Rome.

The Destruction of Empire The fourth painting, has almost the same

perspective as the third, though the artist has stepped back a bit to allow a wider scene of the action, and moved almost to the center of the river.

The action is the sack and destruction of the city, in the course of a tempest seen in the distance. It seems that a fleet of enemy warriors has overthrown the city's defenses, sailed up the river, and is busily firing the city and killing and raping its inhabitants.

The bridge across which the triumphal procession had crossed is broken; a makeshift crossing strains under the weight of soldiers and refugees.

Columns are broken, fire breaks from the upper floors of a palace on the river bank. In the foreground a statue of some venerable hero stands headless, still striding forward into the uncertain future, reminiscent of the hunter in the first painting.

The scene is perhaps suggested by the Vandal sack of Rome in 455.

Desolation

The fifth painting, shows the results, years later. We view the remains of the city in the livid light of a dying day.

The landscape has begun to return to wilderness, and no human beings are to be seen; but the remnants of their architecture emerge from beneath a mantle of trees, ivy, and other overgrowth.

The broken stumps of the pharoses loom in the background.

The Course of Empire Desolation 1836

The arches of the shattered bridge, and the columns of the temple are still visible; a single column looms in the foreground, now a nesting place for birds.

The sunrise of the first painting is mirrored here by a moonrise, a pale light reflecting in the ruin-choked river while the standing pillar reflects the last rays of sunset.

Sic transit gloria mundi. that means "Thus passes the glory of the world". It has been interpreted as "Worldly things are fleeting."

Of "The Course of Empire," James Fenimore

Cooper said it was "the work of the highest genius this country has ever produced."

The series was exhibited in the fall of 1836 and then was stored until it was donated to the New-York Historical Society in 1858.

The Voyage of Life

Was well received by critics and the public; The United States was experiencing the

religious revival sometimes known as the Second Great Awakening.

The four paintings were converted to engravings by James Smillie (1807–1885) after Cole's death

The engravings widely distributed in time for the Third Great Awakening, giving the series the prestige and popular acclaim it retains today.

Childhood, all the important story elements of the series are introduced:

the voyager, the angel, the river, and the expressive landscape.

An infant is safely ensconced in a boat guided by an angel. The landscape is lush; everything is calm and basking in warm sunshine, reflecting the innocence and joy of childhood.

The boat glides out of a dark, craggy cave which Cole himself described as "emblematic of our earthly origin, and the mysterious Past." The river is smooth and narrow, symbolizing the sheltered experience of childhood.

The figurehead on the prow holds an hourglass representing time.

The Voyage of Life Childhood 1842

The Voyage of Life - Childhood

Youth, shows the same rich, green landscape, but here the view widens as does the voyager's experience.

Now the youth grabs the tiller firmly as the angel watches and waves from the shore, allowing him to take control.

The boy's enthusiasm and energy is evident in his forward-thrusting pose and billowing clothes.

In the distance, a ghostly castle hovers in the sky, a white and shimmering beacon that represents the ambitions and dreams of man.

To the youth, the calm river seems to lead straight to the castle, but at the far right of the painting one can just glimpse the river as it becomes rough, choppy, and full of rocks.

Cole comments on the landscape and the youth's ambitions: "The scenery of the picture--its clear stream, its lofty trees, its towering mountains, its unbounded distance, and transparent atmosphere--figure forth the romantic beauty of youthful imaginings, when the mind elevates the Mean and Common into the Magnificent, before experience teaches what is the Real."

The Voyage of Life Youth 1842

The Voyage of Life -Youth

Manhood, the youth has grown into an adult and now faces the trials of life.

The boat is damaged and the tiller is gone. The river has become a terrible rush of white water with menacing rocks, dangerous whirlpools, and surging currents.

The warm sunlight of youth has been clouded over with dark and stormy skies and torrential rains.

The trees have become wind-beaten, gnarled, leafless trunks. The fresh grass is gone, replaced by hard and unforgiving rock.

In the boat, the man no longer displays confidence or even control.

The angel appears high in the sky, still watching over the man, who does not see the angel.

Man must rely on his faith that the angel is there to help him. Cole states, "Trouble is characteristic of the period of Manhood.

In childhood, there is no carking care: in youth, no despairing thought.

It is only when experience has taught us the realities of the world, that we lift from our eyes the golden veil of early life;

That we feel deep and abiding sorrow: The gloomy, eclipse-like tone, the conflicting

elements, the trees riven by tempest, are the allegory;

The Ocean, dimly seen, figures the end of life, which the Voyager is now approaching."

The Voyage of Life - Manhood

There is a strong emphasis on the diagonal: in the rocks which jut up, steep and forbidding, and the river which sweeps downward, threatening to carry anything in or on it over the precipitous drop to the twisting and foaming rapids in the mid-ground.

The extreme narrowness of the passage between the two rock face heightens the tension as the viewer tries to determine whether or not a small craft could navigate these tumultuous waters.

In addition, evil spirits stare down from the dark clouds above.

It is only in the distant background that the viewer captures a glimpse of the horizon.

This line, where the distant ocean meets the sunset colored sky, is the only horizontal line in the painting.

Amidst the chaos and confusion of the wild scene in the foreground, one catches a glimpse of possible serenity.

Cole has positioned this focal point just below and to the right of center. The combination of the lone horizontal and warm color in an otherwise dark and forbidding scene, beckons the viewer’s eye back again and again.

The silhouette of a gnarled tree trunk opposes the diagonals of the rocks and river, forcing the eye back into the scene.

Here the twisted and rotting trunk is used, as it often is in Cole’s work, as a symbol for the savage (untamed) wilderness and all its dangers.

The funnel-shaped cloud that appears above the tree leads the eye up into the forbidding clouds of the sky, over the top and to the left, where the downward arc of the clouds forces it back down again into the river.

The Voyage of Life Old Age 1842

Old Age, is an image of death. The man has grown old; he has survived the trials of life.

The waters have calmed; the river flows into the waters of eternity. The figurehead and hourglass are missing from the battered boat;

The withered old voyager has reached the end of earthly time. In the distance, angels are descending from heaven, while the guardian angel hovers close, gesturing toward the others.

The man is once again joyous with the knowledge that faith has sustained him through life.

The landscape is practically gone, just a few rough rocks represent the edge of the earthly world, and dark water stretches onward.

Cole describes the scene: "The chains of corporeal existence are falling away; and already the mind has glimpses of Immortal Life."

Cole again visited Europe in 1841-1842,

The Adirondacks in 1846 and

Niagara Falls in 1847.

Niagria Falls

Architecture work Cole dabbled in architecture, a not

uncommon practice at the time when the profession was not so codified.

Cole was an entrant in the design competition held in 1838 to create the Ohio Statehouse 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.

In 1848, a week after his 47th birthday he died of a virulent pneumonia.

Summing Up

Thomas Cole (1801–1848): As a teenager, Cole immigrated to America

from England, and went on to found the National Academy of Design in New York City.

A master of pastoral landscapes, Cole set out to capture the beauty and majesty of rural America in his paintings.

Thomas Cole: The View of Mount Holyoke, The Oxbow

“The imagination can scarcely

conceive Arcadian vales more lovely or more peaceful than the valley of the Connecticut,”

- Thomas Cole in his

“Essay on American Scenery.”

“Its villages are rural places where trees overspread every dwelling, and the fields upon its margin have the richest verdure.”

This idealized view of rural America was already starting to collapse when Cole painted

View from Mount Holyoke, also known as The Oxbow.

By the 1830s, Mount Holyoke had become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States, surpassed only by Niagara Falls, and the influx of sightseers was bound to disrupt its pastoral atmosphere.

In selecting this corner of the country to preserve in a monumental painting, Cole produced an enduring visual record of a vanishing way of life.

Landscape was a popular and profitable type of painting in the early decades of the nineteenth century.

A growing population of urban dwellers looked on rural life as a remedy for the problems of industrialization.

If they were too caught up in business to make weekend trips to the country, these affluent people could at least turn their gaze on a peaceful picture of the life they’d left behind.

Landscape paintings were especially well-liked in the 19th century, when urban dwellers viewed rural life as a remedy for the problems of industrialization.

Thomas Cole’s split representation of the Connecticut Valley depicts the inherent conflict between wilderness and civilization that characterized westward expansion.

Cole’s decision to portray the famous view from Mount Holyoke was initially commercial

He took advantage of the American taste for identifiable native scenery to paint what he hoped would be a marketable painting.

Intent on producing a crowd-pleaser, Cole adopted a trick from the panorama, a theatrical display in which an enormous picture is revealed to the spectator one section at a time.

The Oxbow On a canvas nearly six feet wide, Cole

painted the view from the top of the mountain as though it were experienced over time, with a dramatic storm thundering through the landscape.

On the right side of the picture lies the Arcadia that Cole described in his essay—an idyllic place with tidy farms, a respectable number of shade trees, and a meandering river to enrich the soil.

The Oxbow

The distinctive feature of this peaceful place is the river’s graceful bend into a U-shape that recalls an oxbow, itself an emblem of human control over nature.

The scene is set just after the storm, when the skies are clearing and filled with a golden light.

The Oxbow

In contrast, the left side of the picture shows the mountain wilderness still in the grip of the thunderstorm.

The landscape is dark, with heavy skies and an ominous flash of lightning.

The blasted trunks of the primitive forest appear unrelated to the useful trees scattered across the valley below.

The Oxbow

The two realms are linked by a small but significant detail:

the red-and-white umbrella leaning diagonally from the mountainside to make a visual bridge across the river.

The Oxbow

Below it lies an artist’s sketching gear, including a portfolio bearing the signature of Thomas Cole.

The artist himself appears a few yards away, a tiny figure in a flat-crowned hat nestled with his easel into the rocks and trees.

The Oxbow

Even though the neatly divided farmland implies a human population, Cole is the only visible actor in this sweeping panorama,

He has planted his sunshade like a flag to claim the wilderness as his own territory.

The Oxbow

It’s difficult to know what Cole believed. He admired a landscape tamed and

cultivated by human hands, but he also recognized that the “wildness” of the American landscape, a sphere of moral significance for Americans, was threatened by the arrival of civilization.

The Oxbow

On the hillside beyond The Oxbow, Cole left a hidden message: the word Noah is roughly incised in Hebrew letters, a code that read upside down spells out

Shaddai, the Almighty.

Is Cole suggesting that the landscape be read as a holy text that reveals the word of God?

If so, wouldn’t any human intrusion be a sacrilege?

On the other hand, the artist’s careful division of the landscape implies that civilization drives out the danger and chaos inherent in the natural world.

Perhaps the painting itself embodies Cole’s ambivalence.

Another thought -----

It was produced, after all, expressly for public exhibition in the expectation of material gain—an artful exploitation of the nation’s natural beauty.

The Garden of Eden 1828

Romantic Landscape with Ruined Tower 1832-36

The Departure 1837

The Return 1837

The Past 1838

The Present 1838

L-Allegro (Italian Sunset) 1845

Il Penseroso 1845

Home in the Woods 1847