
Romantic landscape painter Thomas Cole (1801-1848) founded the Hudson River School, America's first major art movement. Born in Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire, England, he emigrated with his family in 1818, settling eventually in Ohio. Largely self-taught, Cole moved to New York City in 1825 and hiked up the Hudson River to the Catskill Mountains. Three paintings from that trip, displayed in a bookshop window, caught the eye of Colonel John Trumbull, who purchased one and introduced Cole to the city's art establishment.
Cole's landscapes combined detailed observation with philosophical meditation on nature, time, and civilization. His five-painting series The Course of Empire (1833-36) traces a fictional civilization from wilderness through empire to desolation. The Voyage of Life (1842) follows a man from infancy to old age through allegorical river scenes. Beyond these moral allegories, Cole painted straightforward wilderness views that celebrated American nature as spiritual refuge from industrialization. The Oxbow (1836), showing Connecticut River valley farmland against untamed forest, became his most recognized single painting. Cole mentored Frederic Edwin Church, who carried his vision forward. He died at 47 from pleurisy. Today the Metropolitan Museum of Art holds The Oxbow, and the New-York Historical Society displays The Course of Empire. His home in Catskill is now the Thomas Cole National Historic Site.
22 paintings catalogued with museum locations

Thomas Cole
New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT, New Britain

Thomas Cole
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford
Thomas Cole
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford

Thomas Cole
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford

Thomas Cole
Private Collection, Unknown

Thomas Cole
Private Collection, Unknown

Thomas Cole
Private Collection, Unknown

Thomas Cole
Private Collection, Unknown

Thomas Cole
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford

Thomas Cole
Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM), Oberlin, OH, Berlin

Thomas Cole
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford

Thomas Cole
University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), Philadelphia, PA, Philadelphia

Thomas Cole
Private Collection, Unknown

Thomas Cole
Mead Art Museum, Amherst, MA, Amherst

Thomas Cole
Private Collection, Unknown

Thomas Cole
Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY, Elmira

Thomas Cole, 1836
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Thomas Cole, 1836
New-York Historical Society, New York

Thomas Cole, 1842
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Thomas Cole, 1842
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Thomas Cole, 1842
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Thomas Cole, 1842
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
10 museums display Cole's works. Click any museum to see visiting info and the specific works they hold.



Unknown, Unknown
6 works on display

New York, USA
1 work on display



Washington, D.C., United States
4 works on display


Hartford, United States
5 works on display

New York, United States
1 work on display

Amherst, United States
1 work on display

Philadelphia, US
1 work on display

Berlin, US
1 work on display

New Britain, United States
1 work on display

Elmira, United States
1 work on display
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