Thomas Cole and American Landscapes

A story about how Thomas Cole's paintings led to the national parks movement in the USA as well as underpinning the concept of ‘Manifest Destiny’.

An import from England, Thomas Cole was the father of what was called the Hudson River School as the subject matter of much that he and his colleagues painted was provided by the river views north of New York City, plus areas in New England, such as his great masterpiece, ‘The Ox Bow’, which portrays the artist himself painting a bend in the Connecticut River as it runs north south through the New England state of Massachusetts.

The concerns of Cole, the influence of the ever-changing understanding of geological theories, the attempts to find natural symbolism of the presence of God in the landscape and finally the way 19th century paintings and photography led to the national parks movement in the USA as well as underpinning the concept of ‘Manifest Destiny’.