Thomas Cole* (1801-1848)

Study for Catskill Creek

Details

Thomas Cole* (1801-1848)
Study for Catskill Creek
oil on panel
12 x 18in. (30.5 x 45.7cm.)

Provenance

Florence H.C. Vincent, Catskill, New York, granddaughter of the artist
Edith Cole Hill, Catskill, New York, neice of the above
Sale: Catskill, New York, O. Rundle Gilbert, Paintings and Furniture from the Home of Thomas Cole, Sold by Order of his Great-Granddaughter, Mrs. Edith Cole Hill, September 26, 1964
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Literature

G. Carr, Frederic Edwin Church: Catalogue Raisonn of Works of Art at Olana State Historic Site, vol. I, Cambridge, England, 1994, pp. 13-14, illus.

Lot Essay

Thomas Cole's Study for 'Catskill Creek' of circa 1844-45 reveals the artist's intense contemplation of the world around him. More than just a simple study of landscape and atmosphere, Cole rejoices in the wonders of nature and its spiritual qualities. Matthew Baigell adds that "Cole, in his poetry, often considered his mortality; he grew older, but the seasons continually renewed themselves. In contrast to their cyclical pattern, his was a linear one, so to speak. He therefore put his trust in God to protect him. His trust manifested itself most easily in the landscape, where he could sense God's mysterious presence. For Cole, however, God was not in nature but was distinct from it. He used nature instead to reach God. As he wrote in his poem Sunset in 1843: 'Let us give thanks to God that in his love/He grants such glimpses of the world above/That we poor pilgrims on this darkling sphere/Beyond its shadows can our hopes uprear.'" (Thomas Cole, New York, 1981, p. 25)