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When looking at the history of art and painting, many revolutions and movements are focused around Europe and its artists. Although the majority of the art history is traced back to European art, the artistic movements that were happening in Europe were not limited to European soil. Many painters in America were influenced by Romanticism, and Thomas Cole was one of those painters. Although Thomas Cole was anything but a simple American painter; he conveyed European culture to America and was a large contributor to the development of American heritage. A leading light and a bridge between generations of artists, Thomas Cole and his art were a strong foundation from which the future of American landscape painting would be built.
But why was Thomas Cole so important in the American painting of his time? Most of why Thomas Cole was so hailed as the center of attention as a landscape artist had much to do with America’s current of thought at the time. Two thoughts were pulsing in American society, which by 1820 gained some significant power. The first thought was the nationalistic interest in American scenery, and the second was the religious wonder in which American scenery was more and more examined (Baigell). The American landscape at this time was thought as the prime symbol of America as a nation, and also reflected the beauty of greatness of God’s creation.
These two factors of nationalism and religion were what made Thomas Cole’s work so significant to America at the time. Nature, now at competition with the Bible, as a source of religious inspiration, was seen as revelation equivalent to that of actual scripture. And the domestication of the American landscape added to nationalism and the belief of American people fulfilling God’s plan for them in their land. The combination nationalism and religion led to the praise of wilderness along with its destruction through the advancing of American civilization. The reason for his importance after...