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Exhibition History“American Treasures from the Fenimore Art Museum,” The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, February 20 – November 4, 2004, no cat.
“The Hudson River School: American Treasures from Fenimore Art Museum,” Mennello Museum of American Art, Orlando, FL, October 14, 2005 – March 6, 2006, no cat.
“Le Peinture Americaine: les Artistes du Nouveau Monde 1830-1900,” Fondation de l’Hermitage, Lausanne, June 6 – October 10, 2014, cat. no. 6.
“Thomas Cole and the Garden of Eden,” Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY, May 25 – September 30, 2018, no cat. no.
BibliographyHommel, Justine, “The Mountains, the Valley and the Clove,” in Kaatskill Life, Vol. 3 no. 2(Summer, 1988), p. 13, ill.
Hauptman, William, Peindre L'Amerique: Les artistes du Nouveau Monde 1830-1900 (exh. cat. Lausanne: Foundation de l'Hermitage, 2014), pp. 26, 27, cat. no. 6, ill.
Troyen, Carol, Thomas Cole and the Garden of Eden (exh. cat. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2018), pp. 13, 14, 37, fig. 6, ill.
Artist
Thomas Cole
(1801 - 1848)
View on the Schoharie
Date1826
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsSight: 30 5/8 × 40 5/8 in. (77.8 × 103.2 cm)
Object numberN0359.1955
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark.
The conservation of this work was made possible by the NYSCA/GHHN Conservation Treatment Grant Program administered by Greater Hudson Heritage Network with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextThis landscape shows a relaxed man overlooking a vast panorama of wooded hills. The lightning-ravaged tree serves as a reminder of mortality. Note how the light on the settled valley and the village of Esperance, New York, contrasts with the dark intensity of the passing storm. Thomas Cole is perhaps best known for two allegorical series of paintings called The Voyage of Life and The Course of Empire. A largely self-taught artist, he purposefully composed landscapes (as opposed to history paintings) to portray images that delivered strong messages to his patrons and public.Exhibition History“American Treasures from the Fenimore Art Museum,” The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, February 20 – November 4, 2004, no cat.
“The Hudson River School: American Treasures from Fenimore Art Museum,” Mennello Museum of American Art, Orlando, FL, October 14, 2005 – March 6, 2006, no cat.
“Le Peinture Americaine: les Artistes du Nouveau Monde 1830-1900,” Fondation de l’Hermitage, Lausanne, June 6 – October 10, 2014, cat. no. 6.
“Thomas Cole and the Garden of Eden,” Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY, May 25 – September 30, 2018, no cat. no.
BibliographyHommel, Justine, “The Mountains, the Valley and the Clove,” in Kaatskill Life, Vol. 3 no. 2(Summer, 1988), p. 13, ill.
Hauptman, William, Peindre L'Amerique: Les artistes du Nouveau Monde 1830-1900 (exh. cat. Lausanne: Foundation de l'Hermitage, 2014), pp. 26, 27, cat. no. 6, ill.
Troyen, Carol, Thomas Cole and the Garden of Eden (exh. cat. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2018), pp. 13, 14, 37, fig. 6, ill.
On View
Not on view
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