Thomas Cole was an immigrant from Lancashire, England. Born in 1801, Cole grew up in England during a time when the world was becoming industrialized. When he and his family moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1818 and then later onto Ohio, Cole was introduced to a much more primitive kind of civilization. With less land taken over by man, there was wilderness to see that was new to Cole. As an artist, Cole was primarily self-taught, although in his younger years he served as an apprentice in the world of calico prints and as an assistant to an engraver. While in Philadelphia, Cole was introduced to works of Gilbert Stuart and later on he would study for a few years at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. It was in 1826 that the National
