Thomas Cole and John James Audubon were two major American artists in the 1830s-1840s. Both immigrated to the US (Audubon in 1803 and Cole in 1819) and learned painting without formal training. They were inspired by the American wilderness and sought to depict its natural beauty through landscape painting and scientific illustrations, respectively. However, they also witnessed and documented the rapid development and destruction of the wilderness during their lifetimes.

2. Lacked academic art training, but learned oil painting from John Steen, 1821/22

3. Patronized by Luman Reed, a New York City businessman and collector, during the 1830s

4. Deeply admired American wilderness as God’s creation and source of artistic inspiration

6. Thomas Cole, Landscape with Figures: A Scene from The Last of the Mohicans, 1826(Based on James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757, published 1826)Oil on panel, 66 x 106 cm., Terra Foundation for American Art / Art Institute of Chicago

7. Thomas Cole, Landscape with Tree Trunks, 1828Oil on canvas, 26 ½ x 32 ½ in., Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

8. Thomas Cole, “Essay on American Scenery,” 1835 (published 1836): “It was my intention to attempt a description of several districts remarkable for their picturesqueness and truly American character. … Yet I cannot but express my sorrow that the beauty of such landscapes is quickly passing away—the ravages of the axe are daily increasing—the most noble scenes are made destitute, and oftentimes with a wantonness and barbarism scarcely credible in a civilized nation. The wayside is becoming shadeless, and another generation will behold spots, now rife with beauty, desecrated by what is called improvement; which, as yet, generally destroys Nature’s beauty without substituting that of Art.”

9. John James Audubon, “The Ohio,” in Ornithological Biography (1831-39): “When I think of these times, and call back to my mind the grandeur and beauty of those almost uninhabited shores; when I picture to myself the dense and lofty summits of the forest, that everywhere spread along the hills, and overhung the margins of the stream, unmolested by the axe of the settler; … when I see that no longer any Aborigines are to be found there, and that the vast herds of elks, deer and buffaloes which once pastured on these hills and in these valleys, making for themselves great roads to the several salt springs, have ceased to exist; when I reflect that all this grand portion of our Union, instead of being in a state of nature, is now more or less covered with villages, farms, and towns, where the din of hammers and machinery is constantly heard; that the woods are fast disappearing under the axe by day, and the fire by night; that hundreds of steam-boats are gliding to and fro over the whole length of the majestic river, forcing commerce to take root and to prosper at every spot; when I see the surplus population of Europe coming to assist in the destruction of the forest, and transplanting civilization into its darkest recesses;—when I remember that these extraordinary changes have all taken place in the short period of twenty years, I pause, wonder, and, although I know all to be fact, can scarcely believe its reality. Whether these changes are for the better or for the worse, I shall not pretend to say; but in whatever way my conclusions may incline, I feel with regret that there are on record no satisfactory accounts of the state of that portion of the country, from the time when our people first settled it. This has not been because no one in America is able to accomplish such an undertaking. Our IRVINGS and our COOPERS have proved themselves fully competent for the task. It has more probably been because the changes have succeeded each other with such rapidity, as almost to rival the movements of their pen.”

10. Thomas Cole, “Essay on American Scenery,” 1835 (published 1836): “In this age, when a meager utilitarianism seems ready to absorb every feeling and sentiment, and what is sometimes called improvement in its march makes us fear that the bright and tender flowers of the imagination shall all be crushed beneath its iron tramp, it would be well to cultivate the oasis that yet remains to us, and thus preserve the germs of a future and a purer system. And now, when the sway of fashion is extending widely over society—poisoning the healthful streams of true refinement, and turning men from the love of simplicity and beauty, to a senseless idolatry of their own follies—to lead them gently into the pleasant paths of Taste would be an object worthy of the highest efforts of genius and benevolence. … The pleasures of the imagination, among which the love of scenery holds a conspicuous place, will alone temper the harshness of such a state.”

11. Thomas Cole, View of L’Esperance on the Schoharie River, 1826-28Oil on canvas, 24 ½ x 35 in., Private collection

12. Thomas Cole, View of L’Esperance on the Schoharie River, 1826-28Oil on canvas, 24 ½ x 35 in., Private collection

13. Thomas Cole, View of L’Esperance on the Schoharie River, 1826-28,detail Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog (Wanderer überdemNebelmeer), 1817 Oil on canvas, 37 x 29 in., Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany

14. Thomas Cole, View from Mt. Holyoke, Northampton, MA, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow, 1836 Oil on canvas, 51 ½ x 76 in., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

15. Thomas Cole, View from Mt. Holyoke, Northampton, MA, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow, 1836 Oil on canvas, 51 ½ x 76 in., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

16. John James Audubon, Golden Eagle, 1833 Watercolor, graphite on paper, 38 x 25 ½ in., New-York Historical Society Thomas Cole, View from Mt. Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow, 1836 Oil on canvas, 51 ½ x 76 in., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

17. Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire, 1833-36Oil on canvas, New-York Historical Society

18. Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire, 1833-36Oil on canvas, New-York Historical Society Thomas Cole, letter to Luman Reed, 1833: “A series of pictures might be painted that should illustrate the history of a natural scene as well as be an Epitome of Man—Showing the natural changes of landscape and those affected by man in his progress from Barbarism to Civilization to Luxury to the Vicious state or state of destruction and to the state of Ruin + Desolation.”

19. Thomas Cole, installation plan for The Course of Empire, 1833Pen and ink on paper, 9 5/8 x 13 1/8 in., Detroit Institute of Arts

20. Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: The Savage State, 1834Oil on canvas, 39 ¼ x 63 ¼ in., New-York Historical Society

21. Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: The Pastoral State, 1834Oil on canvas, 39 ¼ x 63 ¼ in., New-York Historical Society

22. Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: Consummation, 1835-36Oil on canvas, 51 ¼ x 76 in., New-York Historical Society

23. Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: Consummation, 1835-36, detail

24. Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: Destruction, 1836Oil on canvas, 33 ¼ x 63 ¼ in., New-York Historical Society

25. Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: Desolation, 1836Oil on canvas, 39 ¼ x 63 in., New-York Historical Society

26. Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: Desolation, 1836, detail