Explore Thomas Cole

One of Cole's patrons and Luman Reed's business partner. Sturges commissioned View on the Catskill, Early Autumn in 1837 and praised its vision of Catskill before modernization, although he later became a major financial supporter of railroad construction in the 1850s. Sturges also commissioned Asher B. Durand to paint Kindred Spirits following Cole's death in 1848, giving the painting to William Cullen Bryant as thanks for delivering a eulogy for Cole at the National Academy of Design. See Asher B. Durand, Jonathan Sturges.