Thomas Cole was an English-born American painter and the founder of the Hudson River School, the first major art movement in the United States. Known for his dramatic, luminous landscapes,... View More

Thomas Cole was an English-born American painter and the founder of the Hudson River School, the first major art movement in the United States. Known for his dramatic, luminous landscapes, Cole captured the raw majesty of the American wilderness at a time when industrialization was rapidly expanding. His paintings often blend realism with allegory, exploring themes of nature, civilization, and the passage of time. With masterpieces like The Course of Empire and The Oxbow, Cole shaped the visual identity of 19th-century American art and remains a defining figure in landscape painting.