Thomas Cole: Life, Paintings, and Views Landscape painting was an extremely important time during the middle of the nineteenth century. One of the leading practitioners of landscape painters in America was Thomas Cole. He went to many places seeking the natural world in which he used direct observation to show his audience the untainted nature by man. His works helped to find goodness in American land and to help Americans take pride in their unique geological features created by god. Thomas Cole inspired many with his brilliant works by bringing satisfaction among the people who were trying to find "the...
He illustrated the American landscape with a new vision, but at the same time he did not forget to paint pictures that portray allegorical and religious subjects. He believed that as men live and die so do plants and animals. Cole used eroded mountains and dried up rivers to symbolize the cycles of nature as being compared with humans. What he meant by this was that man dies as he ages and nature also looses its agility. Sometimes Cole's art works represent that as the early settlement of America is passing by, a new one is taking its place.