Cole, Thomas

Cole, Thomas( 1801–48),
English-born painter brought to Ohio (1819). With Asher Durand he became a founder of the Hudson River School of landscape art. Trips to Europe (1821–31, 1841) made him concerned with allegory in such canvases as The Course of Empire and The Voyage of Life, incorporating dramatic and poetic views of nature. He was also a poet, e.g. The Spirits of the Wilderness (1835–37), but got into print only parts of his poetry, travel sketches, and memoirs.