New England Scenery

1839

Thomas Cole (American, born England, 1801–1848)

Although Thomas Cole is best known for his scenes of the American wilderness, he also rendered pastoral vistas of cultivated landscapes. This work depicts New Hampshire’s White Mountains, an area that Cole traveled to and painted on numerous occasions, as did other 19th-century landscape artists. The prominent church spire at middle distance emphasizes the role of religion in agrarian society and the glow of the low sun expresses a sense of optimism for a rural America. The painting conveys an ideal that was increasingly far from reality, however, as the United States was then being transformed by rapid urbanization and the Industrial Revolution.

Status: On View, Gallery 171
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Thomas Cole
Title: New England Scenery
Place: New England (Place depicted)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1839
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed on lower section of tree trunk: "T Cole" Dated at bottom, left of center: "1839"
Dimensions: 57.1 × 46.7 cm (22 1/2 × 18 3/8 in.)
Credit Line: Mr. and Mrs. Samuel M. Nickerson Collection
Reference Number: 1900.558
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/57163/manifest.json

Judith A. Barter, et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998), 116–17, fig. 22.

Boston Athenaeum, Fourteenth Exhibition of Paintings, Jun–?, 1840, cat. 35, as “Sunrise. A New England Scene.”
New York City, Apollo Association, Granite Building, Eighth Exhibition, Oct. 5–Dec. ?, 1841, cat. 46, as “Landscape—New England Scenery.”
New York City, Gallery of the American Art–Union, The Washington Exhibition in Aid of the New York Gallery of the Fine Arts, Mar–May 1, 1853, cat. 110.
Chicago, Art–Hall, Exposition Building, The Inter–State Industrial Exposition, Sept. 7–Oct. 9, 1876, cat. 361, as “Landscape.”
Chicago, Industrial Service Center, Y.W.C.A., Sept. 19, 1924–June 3, 1927, extended loan,as “Ideal Mountains.”
Chicago, George Williams College (formerly Y.M.C.A. College), Nov. 19, 1931–Nov. 7, 1940, extended loan, as “Landscape.”
Hudson River Exhibition, Feb. 15–Mar. 25, 1945.
Milwaukee Art Institute, Nineteenth Century American Masters, Feb. 20–Mar. 28, 1948, cat. 12.
Hartford, Conn., Wadsworth Atheneum, Thomas Cole 1801–1848: One Hundred Years Later, Nov. 12, 1948–Jan. 2, 1949, cat. 155, as Niagara Falls; New York City, Whitney Museum of American Art, Jan. 8–30, 1949.
Art Institute of Chicago, Two Centuries of American Art, 1750-1950, Oct. 1, 1959–Jan. 10, 1960, no cat. [downloadable checklist available].
Arts Club of Chicago, The American Landscape, Nov. 14–Dec. 29, 1973, cat. 4.
Washington, DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Niagara: Two Centuries of Changing Attitudes, 1697–1901, Sept. 21–Nov. 24, 1985; Buffalo, Knox Art Gallery, July 13–Sept. 1, 1985, Corcoran Gallery of Art, New–York Historical Society, Jan. 22–Apr. 27, 1986.

Thomas Cole, from 1839; W.F. Ladd, New York, around 1841; Charles Baker, New York, by 1853; Samuel Nickerson, Chicago, 1876; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1900.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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