Thomas Cole was an influential American Romantic landscape painter and founder of the Hudson River School. While he was born in England in 1801, his family moved to America while he was in his teens (2016). He then became a wood engraver and then joined his father’s wallpaper business. Shortly after leaving the family business for the second time to pursue painting his work began to attract attention (Avery, 2009). Three of his landscapes were noticed by artists Colonel John Trumbull, Asher B. Durand, and William Dunlap discovered his work in 1825 and they proceeded to find him patrons. Through these three Cole was introduced to more artists and became a founding member of the National Academy of design (Avery, 2009). Cole began to expand as
