Thomas Cole

Thomas Cole was an English-born American Romantic landscape and history painter who created the Hudson River School, which was an American art movement that peaked in the mid-19th century. Originally from Lancashire, Cole came to the United States in 1818 and began residing in Ohio. When he was 22 years old, he relocated to Philadelphia, before settling in Catskill, New York, in 1825. It was in Catskill that he spent the remainder of his life. Cole received training from an itinerant portrait painter named Stein and then attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for two years. In 1825, while some of his paintings were at display in a New York shop window, they garnered the interest of Colonel John Trumbull and the painter Asher B. Durand. They not only purchased his works but also helped him gain patrons. In the ensuing 23 years, he established himself as a prominent landscape artist. However, he also painted a considered amount of allegorical works. As an artist, he inspired many of his peers, including Asher B. Durand and Frederic Edwin Church.