Nature and the Nation
Title: Scene from "The Last of the Mohicans," Cora Kneeling at the Feet of Tamenund, 1827
Artist: Thomas Cole (American 1801-1848)
Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 25 3/8 x 35 1/16 in. (64.5 x 89.1 cm)
Permanent Collection: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art Bequest of Alfred Smith, 1868.3 [Cat 25]
Image Courtesy: Saint Louis Art Museum
The rugged undeveloped American wilderness inspired artists who were known as the Hudson River School painters.
An exhibition has been organized showcasing the development of this influential group and their works.
Hudson River School Landscape Painting
from the the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
July 1 - September 11, 2005
Saint Louis Art Museum
Title: Recollections of Italy, 1864
Artist: Robert S. Duncanson (American 1821-1872)
Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 20 1/2 x 39 in. (52.1 x 99.1 cm)
Permanent Collection: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
The Dorothy C. Archibald and Thomas L. Archibald Fund
and a fractional gift of E. Thomas Williams, Jr., and Auldlyn Higgins Williams, 1991.81 [Cat 38]
Image Courtesy: Saint Louis Art Museum
The widely traveled group of artists were active for nearly half a century. Their renditions span the continental United
States featuring Niagara Falls, Yosemite and the Hudson River from which they take their collective name. Many of the best known
American painters were in this group. Cole, Bierstadt, Church and Durand all of
whom are featured in Nature and the Nation
Title: Lake George, 1860
Artist: John William Casilear (American 1811-1893)
Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 26 1/4 x 42 1/2 in. (66.7 x 108 cm)
Permanent Collection: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Bequest of Clara Hinton Gould, 1948.183[Cat 9]
Image Courtesy: Saint Louis Art Museum
Thomas Cole
Title: Mount Etna from Taormina, 1843
Artist: Thomas Cole (American 1801-1848)
Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 78 5/8 x 120 5/8 in. (199.7 x 306.4 cm)
Permanent Collection: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Museum purchase, 1844.6 [Cat 31] Image Courtesy: Saint Louis Art Museum
Born in England, Thomas Cole emigrated to the United States with his family in 1818. He is considered to be among the best American
landscape painters of the first half of the 19th Century. Cole discovered within himself a love for the nature of his adopted country through
his numerous forays into the Hudson River Valley to sketch. Eventually he settled in Catskill. He founded the Hudson River School with Thomas
Doughty and Asher B. Durand. Frederic Edwin Church was Cole's first pupil.
Artists, then and now, need patrons to allow them to continue their work and the Hudson River found several but two were notable. Daniel Wadsworth,
founder of the museum that bears his name and Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt, a noted collector.
Wadsworth commissioned Cole to paint Scene from The Last of the Mohicans, Cora Kneeling at the Feet of Tamenund, an allegorical
image influenced from literature.
Frederic Edwin Church
Title: Grand Manan Island, Bay of Fundy, 1852
Artist: Frederic Edwin Church (American 1826-1900)
Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 21 13/16 x 31 15/16 in. (55.4 x 81.1 cm)
Permanent Collection: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Gallery Fund purchase, 1898.6 [Cat 14] Image Courtesy: Saint Louis Art Museum
The pupil of Thomas Cole, he discovered his own love of the area and built a mansion overlooking the Hudson. Church named it Olana, today it is
a museum. Many of his famous landscapes were painted at Olana.
Title: Vale of St. Thomas, Jamaica, 1865
Artist: Frederic Edwin Church (American 1826-1900)
Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 48 5/16 x 84 5/8 in. (122.7 x 214.9 cm)
Permanent Collection: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Bequest of Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt, 1905.21 [Cat 18] Image Courtesy: Saint Louis Art Museum
Asher B. Durand
Durand was an accomplished etcher before turning his attention to painting. He was heavily influenced by Thomas Cole and became
the leader of the group after Cole's death in 1848.
Title: View Toward the Hudson Valley, 1851
Artist: Asher B. Durand (American 1796-1886)
Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 33 1/8 x 48 1/8 in. (84.1 x 122.2 cm)
Permanent Collection: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund, 1948.119 [Cat 39]
Image Courtesy: Saint Louis Art Museum
Albert Bierstadt
German born, Bierstadt immigrated to the United States with his family. He often traveled west and was also a member of the Rocky Mountain School who painted large imagery of mountain scenes.
Title: In the Mountains, 1867
Artist: Albert Bierstadt (American 1830-1902)
Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 36 3/16 x 50 1/4 in. (91.9 x 127.6 cm)
Permanent Collection: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art,
Gift of John Junius Morgan in memory of his mother, Juliet Pierpont Morgan, 1923.253 [Cat 5]
Image Courtesy: Saint Louis Art Museum
John Frederick Kensett
Title: Coast Scene with Figures (Beverly Shore), 1869
Artist: John Frederick Kensett (American 1816-1872)
Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 36 x 60 3/8 in. (91.4 x 153.4 cm)
Permanent Collection: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund, 1942.345 [Cat 51]
Image Courtesy: Saint Louis Art Museum
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Title: Niagara Falls, 1855
Artist: John Frederick Kensett (American 1816-1872)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 45 x 32 1/2 in. (114.3 x 82.6 cm)
Permanent Collection:
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
The Dorothy Clark Archibald and
Thomas L. Archibald Fund,
2002.4.1[Cat 50]
Image Courtesy: Saint Louis Art Museum
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Connecticut born John Kensett apprenticed as an engraver to his father and uncle and began his professional life as a bank-note engraver.
His routine was to sketch during the summer months and retire to his studio to paint in the colder winter. He was a prolific artist and was
widely regarded by his fellow artists, enabling him to take on leadership roles in influential artistic associations.
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George Caleb Bingham, John Casilear, Robert S. Duncanson and Sanford Robinson Gifford are included among the twenty-five
artists forming Nature and the Nation featuring a selection of over 50 paintings.
Nature and the Nation
Hudson River School Landscape Painting
from the the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Saint Louis Art Museum:
July 1 - September 11, 2005
Frist Center for the Visual Arts:
September 22, 2005 - January 8, 2006
Title: Study, Franconia Mountains from West Campton, New Hampshire, c. 1861-63
Artist: David Johnson (American 1827-1908)
Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 14 5/8 x 26 1/8 in. (37.1 x 66.4 cm)
Permanent Collection: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Bequest of Clara Hinton Gould, 1948.187 [Cat 49] Image Courtesy: Saint Louis Art Museum
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