The Hunter's Return
Thomas Cole, American, 1801-1848
1845, Oil on canvas, 40 1/8 x 60 1/2 inches
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
About the Artist
Thomas Cole was born in England in 1801 and came to the United
States with his family in 1818. He began his career as a portrait
painter, but soon began painting landscapes. In the summer
of 1825, he took a trip up the Hudson River to do sketches
of the native scenery. In the Catskill Mountains he found
a wild, spectacular landscape that held a particular attraction
for him. Cole made many trips to the area and, in the late
1820s, visited the White Mountains of New Hampshire. There
he found Mount Chocorua, the mountain that appears in several
of his paintings, including The Hunter's Return.
Cole was followed by others who chose to paint nature with
a reverence for its power and beauty. He was one of the group
of painters referred to as the Hudson River School because
of the dramatic landscapes they painted in this area. They
were dedicated to celebrating the glory of nature, especially
the landscapes of the growing nation during a period of expansion
following the War of 1812.
About the Art
The Hunter's Return was commissioned by New York art collector
George Austen. The painting was seen only once between 1848
and its rediscovery in 1983. For more than 100 years the only
evidences of its existence were an entry in the Cole memorial
exhibition catalogue, a note in Cole s list of subjects for
paintings, and the existence of a small sketch and drawings.
The Hunter's Return pictures autumn foliage surrounding a
clearing where a family appears to be living in harmony with
the powerful forces of nature. Cole was often away from his
family when he went to search for subjects to paint and when
he went into New York City to take care of business matters.
He may be giving the viewer an idea of his own feelings when
he returned to his loving family. In The Hunter's Return we
see a cozy log cabin in a beautiful setting. In this place,
the pioneer family is able to live off the abundance of the
land, but Cole also gives the viewer clues to the loss caused
by man's movement into such natural areas.
Additional Information
Thomas Cole was known for the religious or moral messages
of his paintings, and his ideas about the American landscape
were shaped by the time in which he lived. This was still
a new country, and many saw it as an American Garden of Eden,
abundant and untamed. The mountain, forests, waterfall, and
other glories of nature, as seen in The Hunter's Return, can
represent the wonders of the American frontiers. The tree
stumps and fallen logs are symbols of man's destruction of
nature and serve as a warning that humanity must be aware
of the responsibility to maintain a careful balance in dealings
with nature.
The movement referred to as the Hudson River School came into
being in the mid-1820s. The opening of the new Erie Canal
aided expansion to the midwest and ultimately to the rest
of the country. The newly accessible territories seemed to
offer endless opportunities and vast resources. The Hudson
River artists were men who believed the glories of nature
were evidence of God s power. Their paintings were produced
to show reverence for that power at the same time that they
were celebrating the importance of the growing nation.
Cole raised a strong voice against excessive greed and expansion
at all costs. In 1841, speaking to the Catskill Lyceum, and
dismayed by many of the changes he saw, he stated:
"I know, full well, that the forests must be felled
for fuel and tillage, and that roads and canals must be constructed,
but I contend that beauty should be of some value among us;
that where it is not NECESSARY to destroy a tree or a grove,
the hand of the woodman should be checked, and even the consideration,
which, alas, weighs too heavily with us, of a few paltry dollars,
should be held as nought in comparison with the pure and lasting
pleasure that we enjoy, or ought to enjoy, in the objects
which are among the most beautiful creations of the Almighty.
Among the inhabitants of this village, he must be dull indeed,
who has not observed how, within the last ten years, the beauty
of its environs has been shorn away; year by year the groves
that adorned the banks of the Catskill wasted away."
About the Time and Place
The year Thomas Cole painted The Hunter's Return, 1845, saw
great expansion into U.S. territories. Florida joined the
Union in March as the 27th state, and Texas became the 28th
state in December. In the July-August issue of United States
Magazine and Democratic Review, editor John L. O Sullivan
asserted the U.S. claim to the Oregon Territory by right of
our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole
of the continent. President Polk stated that U.S. title to
the Oregon Territory was clear and unquestionable up to the
Alaskan border.
"The Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains
in the Year 1842 and to Oregon and Northern California in
the Years 1843-1844" was published by John C. Fremont who
left for California on a third expedition funded by Congress
with Kit Carson serving as a guide.
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