Tom Christopher wrote that “[Thomas] Cole’s greatest artistic asset proved to be his untutored eye.”[2] Cole emigrated to America with his family in the spring of 1819 at the age of eighteen.[3] As a child, his surroundings were of Lancashire, England, an area known to be an epicenter of Britain’s primarily industrial region. Because of this, Cole was granted an additional clarity of and sensitivity to the vibrancy of American landscapes awash with color, a stark contrast to the bleak and subdued landscapes of the country he left behind.[4] From 1831 to 1832, Cole traversed Italy, where he encountered ruins.[5]
History
The work was painted during Cole's second trip to Europe. Cole altered the landscape: narrowing the canyon in order to make the setting more inspiring.[1]
^Great Northern Catskills of Greene County. “Hudson River School of Art,” 1.
^"Thomas Cole". Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
Works cited
Christopher, Tom. "Living Off the Landscape: How Thomas Cole and Frederick Church made Themselves at Home in the Hudson River Valley." Humanities 30, no. 4 (2009):6-11.
Noble, Luis Legrand. The Life and Works of Thomas Cole. Edited by Elliot S. Vesell Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1964.
