How Did Thomas Cole Contribute To Romanticism

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Thomas Cole (1801-1848) was an American artist who was the founder of the Hudson River School of romantic American Landscape painting. Cole was well known for his work a being realistic and had a meticulous depiction of American landscape which featured themes of romanticism. Cole was born in England but at 17 years old his family immigrated to Ohio where Cole learned the foundation of his profession. Landscape art was not Cole’s only skill, he also was known for doing sketches, which produced some very skillful and well known pieces. Cole’s personal life was full and enriched with 5 children one of which passed away at birth, and he was married at 26 years of age to the niece of the studio he worked for in New York.
Keywords: Thomas Cole, artist, American artist, landscape artist, romanticism …show more content…

In 1932 Cole was summoned back due to his parents being ill as mentioned in the Bibliography of Thomas Cole, written by Earl A. Powell. In 1836 Cole married his wife, Maria Barton whose family lived in Catskill, New York. Cole decided to take up residency in Maria’s home town where they had 5 children, 2 boys and 3 girls. Cole was blessed with many having great influences and made some great friendships in Catskill. Cole traveled to Italy in 1841 for inspiration and visited Sicily where he had the opportunity to view Mt. Etna which produced several art pieces. Cole returned to the states in 1842 where he continued to paint and teach others. The mid 1840’s Cole painted many impressive American landscapes, which are well known for his light usage and his ability to replicate the natural beauties of nature. Cole’s early death in 1848 was universally mourned and a memorial of his work was organized in New York. He remains an inspiration in the art world and is idolized by many new artist when portraying landscape and nature (National Gallery of Art,