Quantcast
The Collection Online
View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow

View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow

Artist: Thomas Cole (American, Lancashire 1801–1848 Catskill, New York)
Date: 1836
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 51 1/2 x 76 in. (130.8 x 193 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, 1908
Accession Number: 08.228
On view in Gallery 759
Label Object Information Related Objects Online Resources Video Audio
Long known as "The Oxbow," this work is a masterpiece of American landscape painting, laden with possible interpretations. In the midst of painting "The Course of Empire" (New-York Historical Society), Cole mentioned in a letter dated March 2, 1836, to his patron Luman Reed that he was executing a large version of this subject expressly for exhibition and sale. The picture was shown at the National Academy of Design in 1836 as "View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm." Cole's interest in the subject probably dates from his 1829–32 trip to Europe, during which he made an exact tracing of the view published in Basil Hall's "Forty Etchings Made with the Camera Lucida in North America in 1827 and 1828." Hall criticized Americans' inattentiveness to their scenery, and Cole responded with a landscape that lauds the uniqueness of America by encompassing "a union of the picturesque, the sublime, and the magnificent." Although often ambiguous about the subjugation of the land, here the artist juxtaposes untamed wilderness and pastoral settlement to emphasize the possibilities of the national landscape, pointing to the future prospect of the American nation. Cole's unequivocal construction and composition of the scene, charged with moral significance, is reinforced by his depiction of himself in the middle distance, perched on a promontory painting the Oxbow. He is an American producing American art, in communion with American scenery. There are both sketchbook drawings with annotations and related oil sketches of this subject. Many other artists copied or imitated the painting.
Some related objects from the collection
Clouds

Clouds
Thomas Cole
(American, Lancashire 1801–1848 Catskill, New York)
Date: ca. 1838
Medium: Oil on paper laid down on canvas
Accession Number: 2013.201
On view in Gallery 759

The Mountain Ford

The Mountain Ford
Thomas Cole
(American, Lancashire 1801–1848 Catskill, New York)
Date: 1846
Medium: Oil on canvas
Accession Number: 15.30.63
On view in Gallery 759

The Titan's Goblet

The Titan's Goblet
Thomas Cole
(American, Lancashire 1801–1848 Catskill, New York)
Date: 1833
Medium: Oil on canvas
Accession Number: 04.29.2
On view in Gallery 759

A View near Tivoli (Morning)

A View near Tivoli (Morning)
Thomas Cole
(American, Lancashire 1801–1848 Catskill, New York)
Date: 1832
Medium: Oil on canvas
Accession Number: 03.27
On view in Gallery 759

View on the Catskill—Early Autumn

View on the Catskill—Early Autumn
Thomas Cole
(American, Lancashire 1801–1848 Catskill, New York)
Date: 1836–37
Medium: Oil on canvas
Accession Number: 95.13.3
On view in Gallery 759

The Metropolitan Museum of Art LogoEmail

Type the CAPTCHA word:
10497

Close