3. Thomas Cole’s Journeys to Italy
3.2. First Journey: 1831–32
His first journey to the south began on May 14th, 1831, right after his trip to England and France.41 Traveling through France on the route to Florence, the artist appeared not to have been genuinely inspired by the landscape prior to his arrival in Italy.42 In his journal of August 25th in 1831, Cole expressed his fascination of the Italian landscape by claiming that he was not surprised the Italian masters “have painted so admirably as they have,” and further mentioned that “Nature in celestial attire was their teacher.”43
By steam vessel, Cole traveled first to Genoa, and then onwards to Livorno.44 Taking a carriage, he arrived in Florence by early June that year.45 Upon arrival, Cole gladly found a room in the same building where his old friend from New York, the Neoclassical sculptor Horatio Greenough (1805–52), was also living.46 Greenough introduced Cole into the group of painters studying in Florence, which included his two brothers, John (1801–52) and Henry (1807–83), and in addition, John Gore (1806–68), John Cranch (1807–91), Andrew Ritchie, Jr. (1782–1862) and Francis Alexander (1800–80) afterwards.47 By the 25th of June, Cole had already acquired the first of what would develop into a regular succession of commissions for Italian landscape subjects from wealthy Americans traveling abroad.48 It has to be emphasized that, when he went to Italy for the first time, Cole was not a beginner, but already an experienced and rather successful landscape painter in his early thirties. As early as in 1828, James Fenimore Cooper promised him a great future as
46 McGuigan, 2009, p. 40. Parry, 1988, p. 116. On Greenough in Italy see Elise Madeleine Ciregna,
“‘An Example in the Right Direction’: Horatio Greenough’s Life and Work in Italy,” in: Salenius, ibid., pp. 19-35.
47 McGuigan, 2009, p. 40.
48 Parry, 1988, p. 116.
landscapist.49 During that summer, Cole, nevertheless, started to take classes at the Academy of Saint Luke in Florence, together with John Cranch, John Gore, and Horatio Greenough’s brother, Henry.50 As an autodidact painter, he must have felt the need to improve his ability in depicting the human figure.
Leaving Florence on August 24th, Cole made a ten-day trip to Volterra with Henry Greenough and John Cranch.51 Throughout the rest of 1831, Cole had some important projects in progress in his studio in Florence.52 The greater part of the seven months Cole had been in Florence—from June, 1831, until January, 1832—was occupied by his work on A Wild Scene (1831–32; Baltimore), the largest canvas he painted there.53
The earliest figure painting Cole executed in Florence was likely The Dead Abel (1831–32; Albany), painted as a study intended for a biblical subject of greater size.54 By the end of 1831, Cole was also producing studies for The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds, a painting he finished in 1834.55 In January of 1832, as soon as A Wild Scene was finished, Cole sent it back to New York, along with Sunset on the Arno (1831; Montclair),56 for exhibition at the National Academy of Design.57 This was no surprise as not any of his figure studies or compositions were completed at the beginning of 1832.58
49 James Fenimore Cooper in his Notions of the Americans, vol. 2, London, 1828, pp. 156–157.
50 Parry, 1988, p. 116.
51 Ibid.
52 Cole mentions his studio in a letter of June 7th to his parents: “My painting-room is delightfully situated. From my window I have a fine view of Fiesole, a hill that Milton mentions in his Paradise Lost. My bedroom is neat; and over my bed is a small picture, covered with an embroidered curtain: it is ‘The true image of the Madonna of comfort’.” Noble, 1856, p. 130. See furthermore the letter to Wadsworth of July 13th, 1832; McNulty, 1983, no. 26 (Florence, July 13th, 1832), p. 57.
53 Parry, 1988, pp. 116, 375. A Wild Scene, oil on canvas, 129.7 × 194.5 cm, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, inv. 1958.15.
54 Parry, 1988, pp. 119, 375. The Dead Abel, oil on paper mounted on wood panel, 44.77 × 73.34 cm, Albany Institute of History and Art, inv. 1943.86, signed: “T Cole.”
55 Parry, 1988, p. 375. The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds, oil on canvas, 257.81 × 471.17 cm, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia.
56 Parry, 1988, p. 375. Sunset on the Arno, c. 1831, oil on canvas, 45.1 × 63.5 cm, Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey, inv. 1964.84.
57 Parry, 1988, p. 118.
58 Ibid., p. 121.
Cole’s fame grew as A Wild Scene received wide acclaim on the other side of the Atlantic.59 Soon he was getting numerous commissions for subjects on the Italian landscape, which led him to leave Florence for Rome to meet the requests of his patrons for paintings of ancient Roman ruins.60
On February 3rd, 1832, Cole traveled to Rome accompanied by his new friend, Francis Alexander (1800–80), a portraitist from Boston, and a young American, John H. W. Lane.61 Taking the path via Siena, they got to Rome within five days and found rooms in the Via del Tritone, which were soon switched for better ones on the Pincian Hill.62 Cole and Alexander shared rooms and a studio for about three months in a house, where, according to legend, the very studio of Claude Lorrain had been located, as the painter himself states in a letter.63 During his stay, other than painting at his easel, Cole enjoyed sight-seeing, which also meant a search for motifs, and made a few short trips into the countryside.64 By February 16th, Cole informed Greenough, then in Florence, of their trip in Rome, mentioning going to places such as the Pantheon, making a brief stay at San Pietro in Vincoli to visit Michelangelo’s
59 McGuigan, 2009, p. 47.
60 Ibid.
61 Parry, 1988, p. 121. In a letter to his parents dated March 4th, Cole mentioned his companions to Rome included “Mr. A----, and Mr. L----, from Boston,” with Mr. L---- possibly being John Lane. If that is the case, we know further that John Lane was from Boston; Noble, 1856, p. 156. For the better known Francis Alexander, see
http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/artist-info.53.html?artobj_artistId=53&pageNumber=1#biography (retrieved May 20th, 2018).
62 Noble, 1856, p.145; Parry, 1988, p. 121.
63 Dunlap, 1918, p. 154; see McGuigan, 2009, p. 47; Parry, 1988, p. 121. For Claude’s house in Rome see the account of Sweetser: “As soon as Claude’s position was well assured, he took rooms near the Church of Santissima Trinità de’Monti, close to the studio of Poussin. The view from this locality is well known as one of the most magnificent of all the wonderful panoramas from the Roman hills, looking across the Tiber to the Castle of St. Angelo and the Vatican, and out to the gray hills of Southern Etruria. What a noble prospect to be outspread daily before the eyes of the ardent and
appreciative lover of nature!” Claude’s house was “on the crest of the southern extension of the Pincian Hill, where the Via Sistina widens at the head of the Spanish Stairs, and high above the Piazza di Spagna.” Claude had “established his new studio on the Pincian Hill.” Moses Foster Sweetser, Claude Lorraine, Boston: Houghton, Osgood and Co., 1878, pp. 48–50. In 1650, Claude moved to another house nearby in the Via Paolina (now Via del Babuino). Martin Sonnabend, “Claude Lorrain: The Enchanted Landscape,” in: Martin Sonnabend and Jon Whiteley (eds.), Claude Lorrain: The Enchanted Landscape, Oxford: Ashmolean Museum [et al.], 2011, pp. 9–17, here p. 10.
64 Parry, 1988, p. 376.
Moses, and seeing Saint Peter’s twice.65 Cole’s several excursions into the Campagna brought him to places as far as Tivoli, northeast of Rome, to make sketches of the cascades, and as far southeast as Ariccia as well as to the Alban Hills.66 It was at that time that he executed drawings and oil sketches for his later paintings Aqueduct near Rome (Saint Louis; fig. 3) and Roman Campagna (Hartford; fig. 4).67 What Cole was busy painting included works such as the Head of a Roman called Christo, from Nature (1832; Private collection) and the Head of a Roman Woman, from Nature (1832; Private collection),68 rare examples of figure painting in his œuvre. In addition, Cole studied the Colosseum, the Protestant Cemetery near the Pyramid of Cestius, where he—besides from sketching the scenery69—was certainly attracted by the tombs of the great English poets John Keats and Percy Shelley, the Fountain of Egeria and other well-known sites.70 Concurrently, he was getting more commissions requested by American travelers.71
Before the end of the second week in May of 1832, Cole was in Naples, where he stayed for a few weeks.72 Cole took a few side trips from there.73 Towards the west, he traveled along the shores of the Bay of Naples, visiting Baia and Pozzuoli, to have a look at the Roman ruins; eastwardly, he went to Mount Vesuvius, the Phlegraean
68 “The Roman heads that you have seen I painted there [that is, in Claude’s house].” Dunlap, 1918, p. 154. See also Parry, 1988, p. 122.
69 Oil sketch on canvas, 15.24 × 21.59 cm, Private Collection; the executed painting is View of the Protestant Burying Ground, Rome, c. 1833–34, oil on canvas, 82.6 × 111.8 cm, Olana State Historic Site, Taconic Region Hudson, New York, inv. OL. 1981.17. Parry, 1988, p. 122.
70 Fountain of Egeria, graphite pencil on off-white wove paper, 22.2 × 31.4 cm, Detroit Institute of Arts, inv. 39.565.19. Parry, 1988, p. 122.
71 Parry, 1988, p. 122.
72 Ibid., pp. 124, 376.
73 Ibid., p. 125.
74 Ibid.
quality of the volcano, the outlines of which are recorded in a sketchbook.75 He also stopped by Camaldoli della Torre and, afterwards, Salerno.76 By May 23rd, Cole had traveled with a small gang far south along the Gulf of Salerno to the town of Paestum.77 After a night at one of the shelters for marsh laborers, Cole created pencil sketches for future use of the solitary temples set up by the Greeks.78 The painting Ruins of the Temples at Paestum was executed around 1832–33.79 Subsequent to his return to Rome, Cole apparently did not care to remain there for very long.80 Together with John Lane, Cole left for Florence again on June 5th,81 returning there on June 9th.82
In the early summer of 1832, the large painting of the Aqueduct near Rome (fig. 3), created for Charles Lyman of Waltham, Massachusetts, was the main canvas Cole was working on.83 The following few months in Florence were among the most joyful and productive of Cole’s entire career,84 in which he painted more than ten views.85 Cole seemed very pleased with his stay in Florence, claiming in a letter of January 31st in 1832 to J. L. Morton, Esq. that he had spent several “agreeable”
months there.86 Probably at the end of July, Cole learned of his parents’ illness and wish to have him back home.87 He was, by early August, sending word to his friends that he had decided to head straight back home.88 The wish to see Venice and
75 Panorama of the Bay of Naples, c. 1832, pen and brown ink over graphite pencil on off-white wove paper, 22.5 × 34.3 cm, Detroit Institute of Arts, inv. 39.566.6.
76 Parry, 1988, p. 125. Parry spells the names of some places wrongly.
77 Ibid.
78 Ibid. See the pencil sketches in one of his notebooks in the Detroit Institute of Arts, inv. 39.566.106, 39.566.108, 39.566.109, 39.566.112, 39.566.114, 39.566.118.
79 Ruins of the Temples at Paestum, 1832–33, oil on canvas, 37.47 × 58.42 cm, Private collection.
80 Parry, 1988, p. 125.
86 Noble also tells us in his book on Cole that “Next to home itself, Florence was to Cole the happiest place in which he ever lived.” Noble, 1856, pp. 131, 139, 142, 144.
87 Dunlap, 1918, p. 155; Parry, 1988, p. 127.
88 Parry, 1988, p. 127.
Switzerland remained unfulfilled.89 At last, once more in the company of John Lane, Cole left Livorno for New York on October 8th.90 Cole’s ship reached the United States on November 25th,91 bringing an end to his one-and-a-half-year journey in Italy.
During his sojourn, Cole enjoyed concentration on his work, typical for foreign artists in Italy. He stated: “what I believe contributes to the enjoyment of being there [in Italy; my remark] is the delightful freedom from the common cares and business of life—the vortex of politics and utilitarianism, that is forever whirling at home.”92 These remarks about the “delightful freedom” the traveler enjoys in Italy remind Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s exclamation in his Italian Journey: “Oh, if only I could send my distant friends a breath of the more carefree existence here!”93 This sensation of independence and the freedom from any constrictions of daily work and family responsibilities stimulated artists and writers.