Explore Thomas Cole

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1. Cole could see a similar view of the Catskill Mountains from his porch at Cedar Grove.

2. Horses run from their master in a field, indicating man's weak control over wild animals.

3. A mother brings a bouquet of wildflowers to her baby on the banks of the creek, possibly painted in response to Cole's recent marriage to Maria Bartow.

4. The Van Vechten family's old stone house symbolizes a previous age of rural society in Catskill. The president of the Canajoharie & Catskill Railroad purchased the house in 1840, and the railroad line eventually ran adjacent to it. See Frederic Edwin Church, The Van Vechten House, Catskill, New York .

5. A man in a rowboat is peacefully enjoying nature's gifts without disturbing them.

6. A hunter stands by a fence looking at the mother and child. Even though this figure may symbolize human control over nature, some historians suggest that, since he wears the same hat as the artist in The Oxbow, he may be another self-portrait.

7. A tree stump felled by an axe conveys Cole's warning that the Catskill scenery is in danger of being destroyed.