The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 2, 2023

View of Schroon Mountain, Essex County, New York, After a Storm

1838

Thomas Cole

(American, 1801–1848)

America, 19th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 132.5 x 193.5 x 13 cm (52 3/16 x 76 3/16 x 5 1/8 in.); Unframed: 99.8 x 160.6 cm (39 5/16 x 63 1/4 in.)

Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection 1917.1335

Location

206 American Landscape

Fun Fact

Nicknamed "Schroon Mountain" by the artist, the peak's official name is Hoffman Mountain.

Description

Championing the American wilderness, Cole declared, "We are still in Eden," in his Essay on American Scenery, published two years before he painted this view of the Adirondacks. The artist sketched the scene in early summer, but when he created the painting in his studio, he rendered it in a dramatic blaze of fall colors. Such a choice likely had nationalistic overtones; he once proclaimed that autumn was "one season where the American forest surpasses all the world in gorgeousness."

Cole included two Indigenous men in the painting’s right foreground foliage. At this time, the Adirondacks remained home to many Native Americans long after most had been forcibly removed from land east of the Mississippi River. While continuing to live, hunt, and fish in the area, these Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples were compelled to significantly adapt their existence amid increasing White settlement and its attendant lumber, mining, and tourist industries.

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed lower left: T. Cole / Catskill 1838.

Provenance
1838
Dr. George Ackerly [d. 1842], New York, NY, to his daughter, Emma Ackerly1 1
By `839 - `847
Emma Ackerly 2
1847-
Jonathan G. and Emma Ackerly Chapman, sold to Nicholas Matthews1 3
Until 1914
Nicholas M. Matthews [1858-1930], Baltimore, MD
1914
(American Art Association, Matthews collection sale, Feb. 17, 1914, no. 61, possibly sold to T. Austin)
1914-1916
Possibly T. Austin 4
1916
(Anderson Galleries, New York, NY, Matthews collection sale, Jan. 17, 1916, no. 55, sold to Holland Galleries) 5
1916-1917
(Holland Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 6
1917-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

Provenance Footnotes

1 1Ackerly was Cole's brother-in-law.
2 1 Although the painting is listed as for sale in the 1839 Apollo Association exhibition catalogue, it may not have sold, because in the 1848 Thomas Cole exhibition at the Gallery of the American Art Union, the owner is given as “Mrs. J. J. [sic] Chapman,” the married name of Emma Ackerly.
3 1Chapman and Emma Ackerly married on April 20, 1847.11
4 According to American Art Annual (1914, vol. 11), the painting was purchased by T. Austin at the 1914 American Art Association sale of Matthews' collection. The painting then appears again in 1916 in the second Matthews collection sale, this time at Anderson Galleries, with no mention of any ownership by Austin. It is possible that it failed to sell in 1914, and was simply put up for sale again in 1916. That both the 1914 and 1916 sales situate the painting in the collection of Matthews calls into question the supposed purchase by Austin, as does the fact that the 1916 sale notes that the painting was purchased by Matthews "from Mrs. J.G. Chapman, granddaughter of Mr. Cole," who appears prior to Matthews in the provenance.
5 1In the sale catalogue the painting is titled "Catskill Mountains.
6 1Several copies of the catalogue of the 1916 Matthews collection sale have handwritten notations indicating that Holland Galleries was the buyer. Additionally, shortly prior to CMA's acquisition of the painting, Holland Galleries lent it to the museum's inaugural exhibition in 1916.
Citations
American Art Association. Illustrated Catalogue of the Valuable Paintings by the Great and Little Masters of the Old and Modern Schools Formed by Mr. Nicholas M. Matthews of Baltimore. New York: The Association, 1914.
American Federation of Arts. American Art Annual. New York: MacMillan Co, 1898.
American Art Annual 11 (1914): 481.
Anderson Galleries, Inc. Paintings by Old and Modern Masters. 1916.
Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of the Inaugural Exhibition June 6-September 20, 1916. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916.
Hoffman, Charles Fenno. New-York Mirror, June 1838. Mentioned: p. 367, 390
American Art-Union. Exhibition of the Paintings of the Late Thomas Cole: At the Gallery of the American Art-Union. New York, NY: Snowden & Prall, 1848. Reproduced: no. 75
Catalogue of Paintings, Engravings, &c. &c. at Picture Gallery of the Maryland Historical Society: Second Annual Exhibition, 1849. Baltimore, MD: Printed by J.D. Toy, 1849. Reproduced: no. 199
"The Matthews Sale." American Art News. 12:20 (February 21, 1914). Mentioned: p. 8
Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of the Inaugural Exhibition, June 6-September 20, 1916. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916. Reproduced: p. 125
"Matthews Pictures Sold." American Art News. 14:16 (January 22, 1916). Mentioned: p. 3, no. 55
"Accessions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 4:4 (April-May 1917). Mentioned: p. 64-67 www.jstor.org
Downes, William Howe. "American Painters of Mountains." The American Magazine of Art. 25:4 (October, 1932). Reproduced: p. 194
Francis, Henry S. "Thomas Cole: Painter of the Catskill Mountains." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art. 24:7 (July, 1937). Reproduced: front cover; Mentioned: p. 113-116 www.jstor.org
Kellner, Sydney. "The Beginnings of Landscape Painting in America." Art in America and Elsewhere: An Illustrated Quarterly Magazine. 25 (October, 1938). p. 158-168. Reproduced
Carnegie Institute, and Lloyd Goodrich. A Century of American Landscape Painting, 1800 to 1900. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Institute, Department of Fine Arts 1939. Mentioned: p. 33, cat. no. 59
Nathan, Walter L. "Thomas Cole and the Romantic Landscape." Romanticism in America: Papers Contributed to a Symposium Held at The Baltimore Museum of Art. Edited by George Boas, p. 24-63. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1940. Mentioned: p. 45
Watson, Jane. "News and Comment." Magazine of Art. 33 (May, 1940). Reproduced: p. 310
Lane, James W. "This Year the Carnegie National: Pittsburgh's Brilliant Survey of 160 Years of U.S. Painting." The Art News. 39:4 (26 October 1940). p. 7-18. Reproduced: p. 11
Ault, George. "Thomas Cole Exhibition at Albany Institute." Ulster County News (Kingston, NY), November 27, 1941. Mentioned: p. 14
Lesley, Parker. "Thomas Cole and the Romantic Sensibility." The Art Quarterly. 5:3 (Summer, 1942). p. 199-221. Mentioned: p. 199-221
Frankenstein, Alfred. "Thomas Cole: The Story of a New Local Purchase." San Francisco Chronicle, January, 1947. Mentioned: p. 21
Devree, Howard. "Baroque to Modern: A Wide Range of Styles in the New Shows." The New York Times, January 16, 1949. Reproduced: p. X9
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 533 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 184 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 184 archive.org
Hamilton, George Heard. 19th and 20th Century Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1970. Mentioned: p. 70-77; Reproduced: p. 76, fig. 60
Celeste, Adam, Rita Myers, and Adele Z. Silver. An Introduction to American Art in The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1972. Mentioned: p. 7-10; Reproduced: p. 7
Cleveland Museum of Art. "A Check List: American Paintings and Water Colors of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Early Twentieth Centuries in The Cleveland Museum of Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 60:1 (January, 1973). pp. 1-36. Mentioned: p. 24, no. 39 www.jstor.org
Talbot, William S. "American Landscape Paintings in The Cleveland Museum of Art." Antiques. 104:5 (November, 1973). pp. 906-917. Reproduced: p. 906, fig. 1
Barnett, Lincoln. The Ancient Adirondacks. New York: Time-Life Books, 1974. Reproduced
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Detroit Institute of Arts, and Toledo Museum of Art. Heritage and Horizon: American Painting, 1776-1976. Toledo, OH: Toledo Museum of Art, 1976. Mentioned: p. [16]; Reproduced
Field, Marta. "Kindred Spirits: George Arms and American Studies Since 1944." New America. 3:2 (Summer/Fall, 1977). Reproduced: p. 44
Johnson, Mark M. "American Landscapes." Arts and Activities. 82:4 (December, 1977). pp. 8-33. Reproduced: p. 28, fig. 1
Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 228
Millhouse, Barbara Babcock. American Wilderness: The Hudson River School of Painting. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978. Reproduced: p. 46; Mentioned: pp. 41-47
Zakon, Ronnie L. "The Romantic Vision." The Romantic Vision: 19th Century American Landscape Painting in the Walker Art Center Permanent Collection. Minneapolis, MN: Walker Art Center 1978. pp. 6-21. Reproduced: p. 8, fig. 3
Powell, Earl A., III. "Thomas Cole and the American Landscape Tradition: The Picturesque." Arts Magazine. 52 (March, 1978). pp. 110-117. Reproduced: p. 113
Meservey, Anne Farmer. "The Role of Art in American Life: Critics' Views of Native Art and Literature, 1830-1865." The American Art Journal. 10:1 (May, 1978). pp. 72-89. Reproduced: p. 84, fig. 10
Craven, Wayne. "Thomas Cole and Italy." The Magazine Antiques. 114:5 (November, 1978). pp. 1014-1027. Mentioned: p. 1014-1027
Moore, Janet Gaylord. The Eastern Gate: An Invitation to the Arts of China and Japan. Cleveland: Collins, 1979. Mentioned: p. 19-26; Reproduced: p. 23
Cikovsky, Nicolai, Jr. "'The Ravages of the Axe': The Meaning of the Tree Stump in Nineteenth-Century American Art." The Art Bulletin. 61:4 (December, 1979). pp. 611-626. Mentioned: p. 624; Reproduced: p. 624, fig. 22 www.jstor.org
Wilmerding, John, and Lisa Fellows Andrus. American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850-1875: Paintings, Drawings, Photographs. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1980. Mentioned: p. 162-170, 181-183; Reproduced: illus. p. 164, fig. 200
Hobbs, Robert Carleton. Robert Smithson: Sculpture. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1981. Mentioned: p. 27-30; Reproduced: p. 28
Baigell, Matthew. Thomas Cole. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1981. Mentioned: p. 34-35, 58-59, 68-69, 76-77; Reproduced: p. 59, plate 20
Silver, Adele Z. Guide to the Galleries: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 2nd ed., revised. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981. Mentioned: p. 80-82; Reproduced: p. 82, fig. 75
Czestochowski, Joseph S. The American Landscape Tradition: A Study and Gallery of Paintings. New York, NY: E.P. Dutton, 1982. Mentioned: p. 7-11, 13-17, 49, 68-69, 154-168; Reproduced: pp. 68-69, fig. no. 53
Morse, Samuel Finley Breese. Lectures on the Affinity of Painting with the Other Fine Arts, edited by Nicolai Cikovsky. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1983. Mentioned: p. 19-33; Reproduced: fig. 13
Talbot, William S. "Visions of Landscape: East and West." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 70:3 (March, 1983). pp. 112-135. Mentioned: p. 115-117; Reproduced: p. 115, fig. 4 www.jstor.org
Creese, Walter L. The Crowning of the American Landscape: Eight Great Spaces and Their Buildings. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1985. Mentioned: p. 71-76; Reproduced: p. 76, fig. 20
Kelly, Franklin. Frederic Edwin Church and the North American Landscape, 1845-60. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Delaware, 1985. Mentioned: p. 9
Avery, Kevin J., Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, John K. Howat, Doreen Bolger Burke, and Catherine Hoover Voorsanger. American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School. New York, NY : Metropolitan Museum of Art : H.N. Abrams, 1987. Mentioned: p. 134-136
Rodrigues Roque, Oswaldo. "Realism and Idealism in Hudson River School Painting." Antiques 132:5 (November, 1987). pp. 1096-1109. Mentioned: p. 1100
Parry, Ellwood C, III. The Art of Thomas Cole: Ambition and Imagination. Newark, NJ: University of Delaware Press, 1988. Mentioned: p. 188-225, 389-391; Reproduced: p. 202, fig. 165
Roque, Oswaldo Rodriguez. "The Exaltation of American Landscape Painting." Nature Rightly Observed: Hudson River School Landscape Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Shizuoka-shi: Metoroporitan Bijutsukan Meisaku Nihon Jikkō Iinkaii, 1988. Mentioned: p. 18, 36-55, 182, 209-210; Reproduced: p. 18, fig. 11
Cikovsky, Nicolai, Jr. "Thomas Cole (1801-1848) Schroon Lake." American Paintings from the Manoogian Collection. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1989. Mentioned: p. 16-17
Vance, William L. America's Rome. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989. Mentioned: p. 90-105; Reproduced: p. 104, fig. 35
Minks, Louise. The Hudson River School. New York: Crescent Books, 1989. Mentioned: p. 6-18, 20; Reproduced: p. 25
Powell, Earl A. Thomas Cole. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1990. Mentioned: p. 20-47, 72-83, 139; Reproduced: p. 72
Wilkins, David G., and Bernard Schultz. Art Past/Art Present. New York: Abrams, 1990. Mentioned: p. 388-389; Reproduced: p. 388, fig. 421
Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 126
Parry, Ellwood C., III. "Les Montagnes dans L'Imaginaire de Thomas Cole." La montagne et ses images du peintre d'Askrésilas à Thomas Cole. Paris: Éditions du CTHS, 1991. Mentioned: p. 383-415; Reproduced: p. 411, fig. 7
Clément, Jean-Paul. Chateaubriand et le sentiment de la nature. Châtenay-Malabry: La Vallée aux loups, Maison de Chateaubriand, 1991. Mentioned: p. 13-21; Reproduced: p. 16
Robertson, Bruce. "Frederic A. Whiting: Founding the Museum with Art and Craft." Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Mentioned: p. 32-59; Reproduced: p. 47
Maciejunes, Nannette V., and Norma J. Roberts. A Nation's Legacy: 150 Years of American Art from Ohio Collections. Columbus, OH: Columbus Museum of Art, 1992. Reproduced: p. 30, 174; Mentioned: p. 22
Truettner, William H., Alan Wallach, and Christine Stansell. Thomas Cole: Landscape into History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994. Reproduced: p. 69, fig. 84; Mentioned: p. 171
Marchetti, Francesca Castria, ed. American Painting. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2002. Mentioned: p. 44
Grabenhorst, T.N. "A River Runs Through It: Master Artists of the Hudson." The Compass: The Magazine of the Sea. 2 (2004). Mentioned: p. 30-35; Reproduced: p. 34
Grabenhorst, T.N. "A River Runs Through It: Master Artists of the Hudson," The Compass: A Magazine of the Sea, no. 2 (2004):30-35. Reproduced: p. 34
Adams, Henry. What's American about American art?: a gallery tour in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008. Reproduced: p. 62 - 65
Cole, Mark. "New Spaces in the Cleveland Museum of Art." American Art 24 no. 2 (Summer 2010) Reproduced: p. 16
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 46
Shepard, Paul, Jr. "Paintings of the New England Landscape: A Scientist Looks at Their Geomorphology." College Art Journal. 17:1 (Fall, 1957). pp. 30-43. Reproduced: p. 36, fig. 5
Eliot, Alexander. Three Hundred Years of American Painting. New York: Time Inc, 1957. Mentioned: pp. 70-74; Reproduced: p. 70
Goodrich, Lloyd. "What is American in American Art?" Art in America. 46 (Fall, 1958). pp. 19-33. Reproduced: p. 23
"Special Exhibitions." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art. 45:1 (January 1962). pp. 3-12. Reproduced www.jstor.org
McCoubrey, John W. American Tradition in Painting. New York: G. Braziller, 1963. Reproduced: plate 22; Mentioned: pp. 22-31, 113-126
American Literature. eds. Andrew J. Porter and Henry L. Terrie, Jr. New York: Ginn and Company, 1964. Reproduced: p. 204
The Beauty of America in Great American Art: With Selections from the Writings of Renowned American Authors. Waukesha, WI: Country Beautiful Foundation; New York: In association with W. Morrow, 1965. Reproduced: pp. 38-39; Mentioned: pp. 37-39
Huntington, David Carew. The Landscapes of Frederic Edwin Church: Vision of an American Era. New York: G. Braziller, 1966. Mentioned: p. 24-34, 200; Reproduced: fig. 4
Merritt, Howard S. "'A Wild Scene' Genesis of a Painting." The Baltimore Museum of Art Annual II: Studies on Thomas Cole, An American Romanticist. Baltimore, MD: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1967. Mentioned: p. 7-40; Reproduced: p. 23, fig. 7
"I Don't Know Art, But I Know What I Like." The Ohio Bell Voice, January, 1967. Mentioned: p. 12-15; Reproduced: p. 13
Moore, Janet Gaylord. The Many Ways of Seeing: An Introduction to the Pleasures of Art. Cleveland, OH: World Pub. Co, 1968. Mentioned: p. 117-120; Reproduced: p. 118
Talbot, William S. "American Visions of Wilderness." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 56:4 (April, 1969). p. 151-166. Mentioned: p. 154-156; Reproduced: p. 154, fig. 3 www.jstor.org
Talbot, William S. "American Visions of Wilderness." The Living Wilderness. 33:108 (Winter, 1969). pp. 14-25. Reproduced: p. 17, fig. 3
Prown, Jules David. American Painting: From Its Beginnings to the Armory Show, vol. 1. Geneva: Skira, distributed by World Publishing Company, 1969. Mentioned: p. 64-75; Reproduced: p. 67
Exhibition history

Thirteenth Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design. National Academy of Design, New York, NY (April 23, 1838-?).

Dunlap Benefit Exhibition. Stuyvesant Institute, New York, NY (November 19-December 1838).

January Exhibition of the Apollo Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in the United States. Apollo Gallery, New York, NY (1839).

Exhibition of the Paintings of the Late Thomas Cole, At the Gallery of the American Art-Union. Gallery of the American Art-Union. New York, NY (March 27 1848-?).

Maryland Historical Society, Second Annual Exhibition. The Picture Gallery, Baltimore, MD (1849). Lent by J.S. Chapman.

The Inaugural Exhibition. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 6-September 20, 1916). Lent by the Holland Galleries.

A Century of American Landscape Painting 1800-1900. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (organizer) (co-organizer) (January 19-February 25, 1938).

A Souvenir of Romanticism in America; or An Elegant Exposition of Taste and Fashion from 1812-to 1865. The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (organizer) (co-organizer) (May 10-June 10, 1940).

Survey of American Painting. Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA (co-organizer) (October 24-December 15, 1940).

The Works of Thomas Cole, 1801-1848. Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, NY (organizer) (co-organizer) (November 1-December 15, 1941).

The Hudson River School and the Early American Landscape Tradition. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (organizer) (co-organizer) (February 15-March 25, 1945); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (April 17-May 18, 1945).

Thomas Cole 1801-1848 One Hundred Years Later: A Loan Exhibition. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT (organizer) (co-organizer) (November 12, 1948-January 2, 1949); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (January 8-30, 1949).

Exhibition of the Month: The Romantic Spirit. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 29-May 5, 1952).

Arts of the Young Republic: The Age of William Dunlap. Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, Chapel Hill, NC (organizer) (co-organizer) (November 2-December 1, 1968).

Thomas Cole. Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, NY (organizer) (co-organizer) (February 14-March 23, 1969); Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY (April 5-May 4, 1969); Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, NY (May 9-June 20, 1969); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (June 30-September 1, 1969).

Heritage and Horizon: American Painting 1776 - 1976. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (organizer) (March 7-April 11, 1976); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (May 2-June 13, 1976); The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH (July 4-August 15, 1976); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 8-October 10, 1976).

Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).

A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting, 1760 - 1910. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (organizer) (co-organizer) (September 7-November 13, 1983); Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (December 7, 1983-February 12, 1984).

American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (co-organizer) (October 4, 1987-January 3, 1988).

A Nation's Legacy: 150 Years of American Art from Ohio Collections. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (January 19-March 15, 1992).

Landscape Into History. National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (co-organizer) (March 18-August 7, 1994); Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT (September 11-December 4, 1994); The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (January 8-March 25, 1995).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1917.1335