Explore Thomas Cole

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  • Falls of the Kaaterskill
  •  
  • The Clove, Catskills
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  • The Course of Empire: The Savage State
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  • The Course of Empire: The Arcadian or Pastoral State
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  • The Course of Empire: The Consummation of Empire
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  • The Course of Empire: Destruction
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  • The Course of Empire: Desolation
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  • View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, After A Thunderstorm (The Oxbow)
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  • View on the Catskill, Early Autumn
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  • The Voyage of Life: Childhood (First Set)
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  • The Voyage of Life: Youth (First Set)
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  • The Voyage of Life: Manhood (First Set)
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  • The Voyage of Life: Old Age (First Set)
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  • The Architect's Dream
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  • Mount Etna From Taormina, Sicily
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  • A View of the Two Lakes and Mountain House, Catskill Mountains, Morning
  •  
  • Kindred Spirits

A View of the Two Lakes and Mountain House, Catskill Mountains, Morning

Thomas Cole. Oil on canvas, 1844, 35 13/16 x 53 7/8 in. Brooklyn Museum. Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 52.16.

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Decode

Mouse over the detail to view its caption, click it to zoom in, and use the reset button on the lower right to zoom back out.

1. Cole depicted the Catskill Mountain House before its remodeling in 1846. The later façade featured a Corinthian colonnade.

2. South Mountain, on which the Catskill Mountain House is located, appears with High Peak and Round Top mountains in the distance. The view is from Sunset Rock on North Mountain. Cole often climbed here in pursuit of picturesque views, calling himself a "Scene-Hunter."

3. Hotel guests often went sailing on North Lake (front) and South Lake (back), although Cole included only this one, simple rowboat in his painting.

4. The figure may be a self-portrait of Cole, suggested by the portfolio of drawings underneath his arm. Viewers can also identify with him, standing on North Mountain and enjoying the expansive vista.

thomas cole

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