Thomas Cole

Born in England, Cole emigrated with his family to the United States at seventeen and taught himself to paint. In 1825 he sketched along the Hudson River and made his name with views of the Catskill wilderness; he is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School.

Not content with pure landscape, he painted moral allegories in series, such as the five-part Course of Empire and the four-part Voyage of Life. He died of illness at forty-seven, but shaped the whole tradition of American landscape painting.