Clouds c. 1838

Thomas Cole painted this cloud study with oil on board sometime in the first half of the 19th century. Cole, a British-born American artist, is considered the founder of the Hudson River School, a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by its landscape paintings. These painters created idyllic visions of the American landscape, often featuring romantic sunsets and dramatic weather. This work typifies the way landscape painting was used to construct a vision of American exceptionalism that could be consumed by a wide audience. It suggests a kind of national destiny, the sky seemingly pregnant with promise over the new nation. It can also be seen as a commentary on the industrial revolution and a yearning to get back to nature. Art history is more than just aesthetics, of course. By consulting historical documents we can better understand the social conditions that made such an image so popular.