The land is ours …
View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm – as it is officially known – is America’s most famous landscape painting. It was made in 1836 by the Bolton-born émigré Thomas Cole, founding father of the Hudson River school, painters who captured the New World for its burgeoning economic elite.
Nature quiz …
On one side, there is the wilderness, a lush riot of swirling leaves and wind-bowed trunks. On the other, settled farmland. At the centre, the painter himself looks round at us. Beneath him, the Connecticut River loops in a big question mark.
Lore of the land …
Cole imbued landscape with the moral messages found in history painting. His vision of chaotic nature versus man’s civilising influence was read as an endorsement of westward expansion.
Rural retreat …
Now, however, with the environmental catastrophe wrought by industry, the artist’s stance has been reassessed. Are those tamed pastures really such a pleasant alternative to the boondocks’ rough energy?
Thomas Cole: Eden to Empire, The National Gallery, WC2, to 7 October
