阿卡迪亞的遺址湯瑪士·科爾之義大利風景畫研究

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(1)National Taiwan Normal University Graduate Institute of Art History 國立臺灣師範大學藝術史研究所. Master’s Degree Thesis 碩士論文. Ruins in Arcadia Studies on Thomas Cole’s Italian Landscapes 阿卡迪亞的遺址湯瑪士‧科爾之義大利風景畫研究. Advisor: Professor Dr. Candida Syndikus 指導教授：辛蒂庫絲博士. Victoria Shia 夏志怡. August 2018 中華民國 107 年 8 月.

(2) Table of Contents English Abstract ............................................................................................................. 3 Chinese Abstract ............................................................................................................ 4 Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................... 5 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 6 2. State of Research........................................................................................................ 8 3. Thomas Cole’s Journeys to Italy .............................................................................. 15 3.1. Motivations and Goals ...................................................................................... 15 3.2. First Journey: 1831–32 ..................................................................................... 16 3.3. Second Journey: 1841–42 ................................................................................. 21 4. “The greatest of all landscape painters”—Thomas Cole and Claude ...................... 27 5. Thomas Cole’s Notion of Arcadia ............................................................................ 32 5.1. Arcadia in Literature and Art ............................................................................ 32 5.2. Arcadia in Thomas Cole’s Art ........................................................................... 35 6. Ruins in the Roman Campagna: The Views of the Aqua Claudia ........................... 40 6.1. The Aqueduct near Rome in Saint Louis (1832) ............................................... 41 6.2. Genesis of the Composition .............................................................................. 43 6.3. Roman Campagna, a Later Replica .................................................................. 45 7. The Artist in Arcadia: Thomas Cole in Sicily .......................................................... 47 7.1. The Discovery of Sicily as Travel Destination ................................................. 47 7.2. The Temple of Segesta with the Artist Sketching—Landscape and Self-Portrait .................................................................................................................................. 49 7.3. The Painter Before the Ruin ............................................................................. 51 7.4. The Views of Mount Etna from Taormina (1843)............................................. 54 1.

(3) 7.5. Poetry and Painting—Thomas Cole’s Description of Climbing Mount Etna ... 64 8. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 67 9. Bibliography ............................................................................................................ 69 Appendix: Selection of Thomas Cole’s Writings ......................................................... 76 Illustrations .................................................................................................................. 89. 2.

(4) English Abstract Motivated by the desire to benefit from the treasures in nature and art of Italy, the English-American artist Thomas Cole (1801–48), eminent leader of the Hudson River School, traveled to the bel paese twice in his life, in 1831–32 and 1841–42. During these visits, Cole not only took art classes in order to improve his skills, but also visited museums and historical places. Most importantly, he went on sketching trips, an activity essential for the creation of his future landscape paintings. After the journeys, Cole developed from his sketches paintings representing Italian landscapes with ruins. Aqueduct near Rome (1832; Saint Louis), Roman Campagna (1843; Hartford), Temple of Segesta with the Artist Sketching (1842–43; Boston) and Mount Etna from Taormina (1843; Hartford) are examples of such studio paintings which are closely examined in this study. Premised on the notion that the pastoral theme is present in these works, Cole’s understanding of Italy as an Arcadian realm has been scrutinized. The link between Cole’s works and the two Italian journeys has been profoundly analyzed. To that end, a selection of the artist’s literary accomplishments that echo the experiences made during the travels has been subjected to further examination. The results are confronted with outcome of the paintings’ visual analysis in order to present in detail similar structural features. For the painter, Italy was definitely an ideal realm, a place rich in art, nature and culture, where he could—liberated from pressure of daily life at home—develop further his concepts of ideal landscape.. Keywords: Thomas Cole, Hudson River School, Italy, American landscape painting, ruins 3.

(5) Chinese Abstract 渴望受益於義大利之自然與藝術瑰寶，英裔美國畫家、同時為哈德遜河派 (Hudson River School) 傑出創始人的湯馬士‧科爾 (Thomas Cole，1801–48)，在其一生中，分別於 1831–32 年和 1841–42 年，兩度造訪義大利這美麗國度。科爾在其旅居義大利期間，不僅參與藝術課程以精進技藝，也參訪了各博物館與歷史名勝。更重要的，他還於旅遊中同時素描作畫，這對其事後的風景畫創作有著至關重要的影響。在義大利的旅途之後，科爾藉其素描紀錄，描繪了義大利風景與遺址。《羅馬附近之渡槽》(Aqueduct near Rome，1832；聖路易斯)、《羅馬坎帕尼亞》(Roman Campagna，1843；哈特福德)、《塞傑斯塔神廟與藝術家素描》(Temple of Segesta with the Artist Sketching，1842–43；波士頓) 以及《自陶爾米納觀埃特納火山》(Mount Etna from Taormina，1843；哈特福德) 都是這類工作室畫的例子，於本研究中有仔細的探討。這些畫作具有田園之主題，在此前提下，本文詳細探究科爾將義大利視為阿卡迪亞之境的議題。上述畫作與科爾兩次義大利旅行之間的關聯已被深入分析。為此，呼應藝術家旅行經驗的部分文字作品已被進一步研究。其結果與畫作視覺分析的結果相對，以仔細呈現相似的結構特性。對畫家科爾而言，義大利絕對是個理想境地，是富饒藝術、自然和文化的地方；他來自家鄉日常生活的壓力在那裡因而獲得釋放，也因此進一步醞釀、滋長了他理想風景畫的創作概念。. 關鍵字：湯馬士‧科爾 (Thomas Cole)、哈德遜河派 (Hudson River School)、義大利、美國風景畫、遺址. 4.

(6) Acknowledgments I owe my profound gratitude to my advisor, Professor Candida Syndikus, for providing me her professional guidance and instruction throughout my course of research. Her personal efforts not only helped but inspired me as well at every stage of my work. I am truly thankful for this. I would also like to express my great appreciation to my committee members, Professor Valentin Nussbaum and Professor Chia-Chuan Hsieh, for their valuable and constructive suggestions. In addition, my sincere thanks go to my teachers and classmates of the GIAH at NTNU who have supported and assisted me in every way, allowing me to achieve my goal. I am especially grateful to my family for giving me the opportunity to follow my dream and the encouragement to realize it. Finally, I would like to thank Professor Candida Syndikus once again. Without her, the completion of this thesis would have never been possible. I am, therefore, forever indebted to her.. 5.

(7) 1. Introduction Thomas Cole (1801–48), the English-born American landscape artist, is considered the founder of the Hudson River School, a mid-19th-century American art movement recognized for its realistic and detailed depictions of nature and the wilderness (figs. 1, 2). As the leader of America’s first major art movement, Cole took part in forming the visual representation of the American landscape. While America offered impressive and virtually untouched natural sceneries to the painter, in southern Europe he found a cultivated landscape, with ancient ruins bearing witness of a glorious past. Thomas Cole toured Europe twice during his lifetime; the first trip was taken in 1829–32, and the second, in 1841–42. On both trips, he traveled to Italy, the destination where he could find “rich treasures in nature and art.” After both journeys to Italy, Cole produced paintings of ruins within the Italian landscape, including the Aqua Claudia at the southern outskirts of Rome, which became rather popular due to his vedute, the temple of Segesta and the theater at Taormina in Sicily. These painted studio works include Aqueduct near Rome (1832; Saint Louis; fig. 3) and Roman Campagna (1843; Hartford; fig. 4), comprising the experience of landscape outside Rome, and the Temple of Segesta with the Artist Sketching (1842–43; Boston; fig. 1) and Mount Etna from Taormina (1843; Hartford; fig. 27), fruit of his visit in Sicily. All these paintings were meticulously prepared on site with drawings and oil sketches. As this thesis strives to give an in-depth analysis of these selected artworks as case studies, the aim is to determine the impact of the two Italian trips on Cole’s artistic development, as well as the method Cole had for making his paintings. In that respect, my main interest focuses on Cole’s vision and representation of the Italian landscape as an ideal realm, accommodating ruins as relics of high culture. An 6.

(8) analysis of a selection of Cole’s own literary works, prose and poetry, strives to show his ideas about nature and culture. Since material on the subject exceeds what a Master’s thesis should contain, not all of Cole’s Italian landscapes were included in this study, which selectively concentrates on topographical, instead of imaginary, sceneries.. 7.

(9) 2. State of Research Due to Thomas Cole’s great popularity after he was rediscovered in the 1940s, scholarly research on his art has produced a remarkable body of literature. The following overview is, therefore, concentrated on the most important texts for the topic of this present thesis, Cole’s journey to Italy and the works produced subsequently. While biographical and art historical accounts started directly after his death, he was virtually forgotten during the first half of the 20th century.. 1. Rediscovered in the mid-century, research flourished in the 1980s and 1990s. The work comprises scholarly articles, monographs, and exhibition catalogs. A number of published sources from Cole’s lifetime including his own writings help to reconstruct the painter’s biography and to understand his motivations to go abroad. More than other artists, Cole showed a commitment and skill to verbal expression. His essays, lectures and poems, mostly published in journals such as The Knickerbocker (New York), offer an insight into his aesthetical ideas and artistic work.2 Sicilian Scenery and Antiquities is such an essay, which can be regarded as a literary parallel to Thomas Cole’s painted landscapes of Sicily. He expressed in the text a romanticist view. It is a two-part essay Cole wrote after his trip to Sicily in 1843, published in The Knickerbocker in February of 1844.3 In the first part of the essay, Cole gives a brief outline of the history of Sicily along with a description of the Sicilian landscape and local conditions through his eyes. His adventure ascending Mount Etna is also recorded in this part. As for the second part, Cole focuses on 1. Alan Wallach, Review of “The Art of Thomas Cole, Ambition and Imagination by Ellwood C. Parry,” in: Archives of American Art Journal 28, no. 4, 1988, pp. 21–25, here p. 21. 2 On Thomas Cole as a writer see Joy S. Kasson, “Thomas Cole,” in: Eric L. Haralson (ed.), Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century, New York and London: Routledge, 1998, pp. 89–92. 3 Thomas Cole, “Sicilian Scenery and Antiquities,” in: The Knickerbocker, New-York Monthly Magazine 23, no. 2, February, 1844, pp. 103-113; no. 3, March, 1844, pp. 236–244.. 8.

(10) architectural antiquities of Sicily, portraying the ancient structures he visited, ending with his cautionary advice. Cole’s essay is a romantic depiction of nature with a slight influence of man, presenting the beauty of the natural landscape and, at the same time, stressing the intertwined past and future of man and nature. Reverend Louis Legrand Noble (1813–1882) was not only Thomas Cole’s pastor at Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church in Catskill, but also a close friend who knew the artist personally.4 Noble published his biography on Cole under the title The Course of Empire, Voyage of Life and Other Pictures of Thomas Cole in 1853, providing an intimate portrait of the artist as a commemoration after the latter’s death. The third edition was differently titled The Life and Works of Thomas Cole, published three years later in 1856. 5 Containing Thomas Cole’s own essays, poems, journals, correspondence and descriptions of his paintings, the importance of this biography lies in the fact that it is a primary source of Cole’s life. In 1834, William Dunlap (1766–1839) self-published his A History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States, making him the very first American to write a book on the history of art in the United States.6 His book is a relatively random collection of biographies of early American artists with commentary, which offers a valuable record of the period. Cole let Dunlap edit some of his letters, among them also one on Cole’s first trip to Italy, which is included in a chapter on Cole in the third volume of A History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts. 4. John Dillenberger, The visual arts and Christianity in America: from the colonial period to the present, New York: Crossroad, 1989, p. 77. 5 Louis Legrand Noble, The Course of Empire, Voyage of Life and Other Pictures of Thomas Cole, N.A. (New York, 1853); 3rd ed. 1856; new edition Louis Legrand Noble, The Life and Works of Thomas Cole, ed. by Elliot S. Vesell, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1964. 6 An analysis of Dunlap’s History is to be found in Maura Lyons’s monograph on Dunlap; Maura Lyons, William Dunlap and the construction of an American art history, Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2005; for Dunlap and his way of collecting artists’ narratives, as well as for his relationship to Cole, see especially p. 60.. 9.

(11) of Design in the United States.7 In one of his fictional letters from Europe, published as a kind of travelogue under the title Notions of the Americans, Picked up by a Travelling Bachelor in 1828, none other than American writer James Fenimore Cooper, later better known for his Leatherstocking Tales, briefly comments on Thomas Cole and his landscapes. 8 Cooper’s commentary begins by promising Cole a great future as a landscapist, continued by praising his taste and skill in idealizing the scenery, finally ending with the expectation of Cole to continue to study from nature. Since the 1950s, scholars occasionally highlighted common features in Cole’ paintings and Cooper’s texts when depicting landscape. 9 Cole and Cooper used a device that Donald Ringe called “landscape series” to imply the passage of time in a single picture or description, fulfilling the purpose of delivering a moral theme within their works.10 Edited by John Bard McNulty (1916–2015), The Correspondence of Thomas Cole and Daniel Wadsworth presents a small selection of letters between Cole and Hartford artist Daniel Wadsworth (1771–1848), today preserved in the Watkinson Library, Trinity College, Hartford, and in the New York State Library, Albany, New York, in chronological order, including the text of nineteen unpublished letters dating mostly from 1826 to 1828. A letter written by Cole in Florence on July 13th, 1832, bears particular importance to this study. 11 In this letter, Cole mentions his trip to Italy, as well as the painting of ruined aqueducts he was working on at that time. In 1988, Ellwood C. Parry III published his monograph on Thomas Cole titled The Art of Thomas Cole: Ambition and Imagination in attempt to achieve a more 7. Dunlap, 1918, pp. 138–159; the account on the Italian journey is to be found on the pp. 153–155. James Fenimore Cooper, Notions of the Americans, Picked up by a Travelling Bachelor, 2 vols., London, 1828, here vol. 2, pp. 156–157; James F. Beard, Jr., “Cooper and his Artistic Contemporaries,” in: New York History 35, no. 4, 1954, pp. 480–495. 9 See the literature cited in the article of Donald A. Ringe, “James Fenimore Cooper and Thomas Cole: An Analogous Technique,” in: American Literature 30, no. 1, 1958, pp. 26–36. 10 Ibid., p. 27. 11 McNulty, Letters, 1983, no. 26 (Florence, July 13th, 1832), pp. 56–57. 8. 10.

(12) profound understanding of Cole’s accomplishments and his preeminent place in American painting of the mid-19th century. Being the first full account of Cole’s life and work since Noble’s biography, Parry’s eight-chaptered monograph is important for the present study as it gathers a plethora of primary sources, from Cole’s own artworks and letters to observations by his peers, to reconstruct Cole’s life. The book is on the one hand a chronological study of Cole’s œuvre and a biographical record of the painter’s life from 1825 till his death in 1848, and an iconographic study of Cole’s most important works on the other. As an illustrated catalog, however, it lacks a more careful systematic record of the relevant information for every work and it remains in many respects without the necessary in-depth evaluation of the assembled sources. As reviewer Alan Wallach, himself co-editor and co-author of a major exhibition catalog of 1994 dedicated to Cole,12 appropriately remarked, the use of this book is difficult as its author attempted to integrate different methodological approaches— biographical, stylistic and iconographical—into a strictly chronological order.13 American art historian and museum director Earl Alexander Powell III authored a monograph on Thomas Cole published in 1990.14 Revealing the life and theories of Cole, Powell’s book concentrates on Cole’s works and their inspirational roots in the artist’s English contemporaries, the earlier French masters and the landscape of the American East. Published in 1981, Matthew Baigell’s Thomas Cole offers an overview of Cole’s life and work.15 After a concise chronology, Baigell introduces Cole and his career through its informative essay, proceeded by a catalog of Cole’s major works. The. 12. Alan Wallach, “Thomas Cole: Landscape and the Course of American Empire,” in: William H. Truettner and Alan Wallach (eds.), Thomas Cole: Landscape into History, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994, pp. 23–111. 13 Wallach, 1988, pp. 21–25, here p. 22. 14 Earl Alexander Powell, Thomas Cole, New York: H.N. Abrams, 1990. 15 Matthew Baigell, Thomas Cole, New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1981.. 11.

(13) introductory essay not only outlines Cole’s career, but also uncovers the content and method of his work, as well as tells of the artist’s place and influence in early American art. The Lure of Italy: American Artists and the Italian Experience, 1760-1914 is an exhibition catalog edited by Theodore Stebbins and published in 1992. 16 This significant travelling exhibition opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and proceeded to the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Some of Cole’s major Italian landscape paintings executed in Italy or after the trips were present at the show including Dream of Arcadia (1838; fig. 10), 17 L’Allegro (1845), 18 Il Penseroso (1845), 19 Interior of the Colosseum, Rome (about 1832), 20 Aqueduct near Rome (1832; fig. 3),21 Mount Etna from Taormina (1843; fig. 27),22 A View near Tivoli (1832),23 View of Florence from San Miniato (1837),24 and Salvator Rosa Sketching Banditti (about 1832–40). 25 Stebbins’s opening article contains a consistent paragraph on “Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School in Italy” discussing the vedute Cole had produced under the impression of the Italian landscape experienced on the two trips.26 16. Theodore Ellis Stebbins (ed.), The Lure of Italy: American Artists and the Italian Experience, 17601914, exhibition catalog, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: The Cleveland Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1992/93, Boston: Museum of Fine Arts; New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1992. 17 Dream of Arcadia, oil on canvas, 98.11 × 159.38 cm, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, inv. 1954.71. 18 L’Allegro, oil on canvas, 81.6 × 121.8 cm, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, signed and dated lower right: “T. Cole. / 1845.” 19 Il Penseroso, oil on canvas, 82.2 × 122.1 cm, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, signed and dated lower right: “T. Cole / 1845.” 20 Interior of the Colosseum, Rome, oil on canvas, 25.4 × 45.72 cm, Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, New York, inv. 1964.71. 21 Aqueduct near Rome, oil on canvas, 113 × 171.2 cm, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in Saint Louis, inv. WU 1987.4. 22 Mount Etna from Taormina, oil on canvas, 199.71 × 306.39 cm, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut, signed and dated: “T. Cole / 1843;” purchase, inv. 1844.6. 23 A View near Tivoli, oil on canvas, 37.5 × 58.7cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. 03.27. 24 View of Florence from San Miniato, oil on canvas, 99.50 × 160.40 cm, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, signature at the lower right: “T C.” 25 Salvator Rosa Sketching Banditti, oil on panel, 17.78 × 24.13 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 26 Stebbins, 1992, pp. 42–54.. 12.

(14) Eleanor Jones Harvey’s exhibition catalog, The Painted Sketch: American Impressions from Nature, 1830-1880 (Dallas Museum of Art, in June, 1998), was the first major publication focusing on the oil sketches of eight of America’s leading painters belonging to the Hudson River School. 27 The catalog offers not only an insightful history of the various applications of oil sketches by the respective artists including Thomas Cole, but also a novel interpretation of this genre of preliminary draft, which was usually executed on site. Besides serving as preparatory sketches in the development of studio canvases, demonstrating how artists arrived at their final paintings, the oil sketch has gradually been considered an independent work of art, an artistic production in its own right. Regarding Thomas Cole, Harvey discusses a few of his oil studies as well as Cole’s portable sketch box, a piece of evidence showing the artist worked en plein air.28 For this context, her discussion of Cole’s Campagna di Roma (1832; fig. 13) 29 and The Ruins at Taormina (1842; fig. 29) 30 are of importance to this study. John F. McGuigan, Jr.’s article, “A Painter’s Paradise”: Thomas Cole and his Transformative Experience in Florence, 1831–1832, concentrates on Cole’s first trip to Italy, particularly on his sojourn in Florence. 31 The author examines the crucial twelve months Cole lived and worked in Florence, providing a vivid reconstruction of Cole’s life there, backed up by documents such as letters and diaries of Cole and his contemporaries. McGuigan believes Cole benefited much from Scottish landscape painter George Augustus Wallis (1770–1847), whose influence was no less than that 27. Eleanor Jones Harvey (ed.), The Painted Sketch: American Impressions from Nature, 1830-1880, Dallas Museum of Art in association with H.N. Abrams, 1998, p. 6. 28 Ibid., p. 120. 29 Campagna di Roma (Study for Aqueduct near Rome), oil on paper mounted on canvas, 21.59 × 29.21 cm, Alexander Gallery, New York; signed on the lower left: “T.C.” 30 The Ruins at Taormina, oil and pencil on board, 30.48 × 40.96 cm, Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York. 31 John F. McGuigan, Jr., “‘A Painter’s Paradise’: Thomas Cole and His Transformative Experience in Florence, 1831-1832,” in: Sirpa Salenius (ed.), Sculptors, Painters and Italy: Italian Influence on Nineteenth American Art, Il Prato, 2009, pp. 37–52.. 13.

(15) of Claude Lorrain and Salvator Rosa. 32 Besides supplementing Parry’s book with more precise details, McGuigan’s article also corrects some inaccuracies in it. McGuigan considers Cole’s time spent in Italy to be rewarding and of great importance towards his art. Thomas Cole: The Artist as Architect was published to accompany the exhibition of 2016 at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site. This catalog provides an analysis of Cole’s architectural pursuits and their influence on his painting, including an essay by the curator, Annette Blaugrund, briefly mentioning the impact of Cole’s Italian journeys on his art. During Cole’s visits to Italy, he saw the ruins of the area, which not only fascinated him but changed his art as well.33 The goal of my study is to concentrate on a selection of Thomas Cole’s Italian landscapes, including Aqueduct near Rome (1832; fig. 3) and The Temple of Segesta with the Artist Sketching (1843; fig. 1), and to connect them with the two Italian journeys Cole made. The common theme of these landscapes is the ruined structure settled within an Arcadian-like environment. The way the ruins are depicted and their importance for Cole’s paintings is to be further looked into. Furthermore, it will be asked what visual and literary models shaped Cole’s ideas of landscape painting. How did he approach Italy? What was the country for him? What were his main goals when travelling there? What is essential is the research on the parallels between the paintings as first sources and Cole’s own accounts, especially his essay Sicilian Scenery and Antiquities of 1844. Before, however, I shall strive to undertake an indepth analysis of the paintings and their genesis, exploring the painter’s approach from the sketches produced on site to the final paintings executed afterwards in the studio and later replicas of the same subjects. 32. McGuigan, 2009, p. 47. Annette Blaugrund, “Thomas Cole: The Unknown Architect,” in: Annette Blaugrund, Thomas Cole: The Artist as Architect, New York: The Monacelli Press, 2016, pp. 13–79, here p. 22. 33. 14.

(16) 3. Thomas Cole’s Journeys to Italy 3.1. Motivations and Goals During his lifetime, Thomas Cole undertook two extended trips to Europe; the first one in 1829–32, and the second some ten years later in 1841–42.34 On both occasions, he also paid visits to Italy, which lasted several months. After his return, Cole mentioned having seen Rome and Naples as well as having spent time in Florence; he expressly noted the “rich treasures in Nature and art” of Italy, which helped him to shape his own work and ideas.35 Cole had his heart set on taking his trip with the goal of benefiting himself from studying the works of the old Masters.36 Furthermore, it was the beauty of the cultivated landscape and the remnants of Greek and Roman culture, which contrasted with the American wilderness. 37 In Sicilian Scenery and Antiquities of 1844, he speaks of the landscape’s “picturesqueness, fertility, and the grandeur of its architectural remains” to be found on the island.38 Another important aspect for the choice of the locations he visited was their genius loci. Therefore, he went to Sant’Onofrio in Rome and to Vaucluse in the Provence, places hallowed by the “footsteps and immortal verse” of the eminent poets Torquato Tasso and Petrarch.39 Cole had a profound sense of the places’ historicity. Moreover, he equaled poetry and painting, which according to him both “sublime and purify [sic] thought, by grasping the past, the present, and the future.”40. 34. Parry, 1988, p. 116. McNulty, 1983, no. 26 (Florence, July 13th, 1832), p. 56. 36 McNulty, 1983, no. 14 (New York, March 11th, 1828), p. 33. 37 John K. Howat, American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987, p. 29. 38 Cole, 1844, p. 103 (see appendix no. 3). 39 Thomas Cole, “Essay on American Scenery, 1835,” in: John W. McCoubrey (ed.), American Art, 1700-1960, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1965, pp. 98–110, here p. 108. 40 Ibid., p. 98. 35. 15.

(17) 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 41. Parry, 1988, p. 115. Powell, 1990, p. 56. 43 Noble, 1856, p. 138. 44 Parry, 1988, p. 116. 45 Ibid. 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. 42. 16.

(18) 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. 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. 50. 17.

(19) 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. 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/artistinfo.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. 60. 18.

(20) 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 scenery 69 —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 Fields, Pompeii and Herculaneum. 74 Cole was especially attracted by the sublime. 65. Ibid., pp. 121–122. Ibid., p. 122. 67 See below my chapter 6. 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. 66. 19.

(21) 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. 81 Ibid. 82 McGuigan, 2009, p. 48. 83 Dunlap, 1918, p. 155; Parry, 1988, p. 126. 84 Parry, 1988, p. 126. 85 Ibid., p. 376. 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.. 20.

(22) 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.. 3.3. Second Journey: 1841–42 The second journey to Europe, which was again planned as a round trip, started in his native country England and included again a stay in Italy. With this trip, Cole had obviously some goals in mind, first to gather visual material on the countryside for further works, to visit important museums, such as the Louvre in Paris, in order to learn of the old masters and probably also to expand his network of European clients.94 According to his journal entry for November 9th, 1841, Thomas Cole and 89. Dunlap, 1918, p. 155. Parry, 1988, p. 127. 91 Ibid. 92 Dunlap, 1918, p. 155. 93 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Italian Journey [1786–1788], London: Penguin, 1962, p. 103 (Venice, October 12th, 1786). 94 George Washington Greene, “Cole,” in: Biographical Studies, New York: G. P. Putnam, 1860, pp. 74–120, here p. 103. 90. 21.

(23) American artist Thomas P. Rossiter (1818–71) had reached Rome on that day.95 There, Cole was pleased to obtain a place for resting as well as a studio for painting.96 Two days later, on November 11th, Cole wrote home informing his wife that he was finally in Rome.97 By this time, Cole had already begun making chalk marks upon a large canvas as well as finished a small sketch for a picture of The Fountain of Vaucluse.98 On November 30th, Cole wrote to his wife mentioning that the picture of Vaucluse was not yet completed, though much developed.99 In the same letter, Cole told his wife of his decision to repaint The Voyage of Life anew according to memory and with the help of the several tracings and sketches he had with him.100 As stated by George Washington Greene (1811–83), the American consul in Rome between 1837 and 1845, in a chapter of his Biographical Sketches (1860), dedicated to Thomas Cole, the painter had sought out for himself a “quiet little studio in the Babuino, with a bedroom on the same stairway.” 101 This was the studio in which Cole finished the second set of The Voyage of Life and a small landscape of an autumn scene from somewhere near Catskill in the winter of 1841–42. 102 Besides painting steadily before his easel, Cole took many sight-seeing and sketching trips into the country, beginning with stopping by Sant’Onofrio, where Torquato Tasso, the Renaissance poet, was buried.103 Greene offered an overview to the sites Cole visited, which included, among others, the Vatican and the Capitoline Hill, the rich landscapes of the park of the Villa Doria Pamphili and the church of Sant’Onofrio on the Gianicolo, the Villa Borghese and its park on the Pincio and, finally, the Campagna at 95. Parry, 1988, p. 265. Ibid. 97 Ibid., p. 378. 98 Ibid., p. 265. 99 Ibid. 100 Ibid. 101 Ibid; Greene, 1860, p. 104. Located in the very heart of historic Rome, Via del Babuino is located near the Corso and connects Piazza del Popolo and Piazza di Spagna. 102 Parry, 1988, p. 265. 103 Ibid. 96. 22.

(24) the outskirts of the city.. 104. Cole also attended soirées in order to make. acquaintances.105 As he wrote in a letter to his wife on February 6th, 1842, for the duration of a month or six weeks, practically every night had been occupied in making social calls or at dinner gatherings and evening parties, including ones held by Prince Torlonia and by the French ambassador.106 The artist also reported in this letter that the first and third pictures of The Voyage of Life were finished, yet his second was still just a “castle in the air.”107 As soon as Cole’s first three pictures were done and the fourth almost finished, American artist Luther Terry (1813–69) lent his studio to Cole in the Vicolo dell’Orto di Napoli, near Via del Babuino, for a short while so that the series could be displayed favorably. 108 George Washington Greene arranged to invite Danish Neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorwaldsen (1770–1844), then a septuagenarian, to be one of the first official guests to view the works.109 In a letter of April 2nd, Cole mentioned to his wife that the second set of The Voyage of Life was practically completed following merely four months of labor, and it was making a very good impression on all those who had seen it.110 He also revealed to his wife his intentions to set off for Sicily the next week.111 While Cole prepared to leave for his trip to Sicily, the second set of The Voyage of Life was exhibited in Rome, after a few weeks of private showings in Luther Terry’s studio.112 This journey to Sicily, remaining for around six weeks, was made in the company of Samuel James Ainsley (1806–74), an English artist and fellow. 104. Ibid., p. 266; Greene, 1860, p. 105. Noble, 1856, p. 315. 106 Parry, 1988, p. 266. 107 Ibid. 108 Ibid., p. 267. 109 Ibid. 110 Ibid., p. 268. 111 Ibid. 112 Ibid., p. 270. 105. 23.

(25) landscape painter.113 The two men departed Rome in early April, making the trip by land to Naples to begin with, then by boat over the Tyrrhenian Sea to Palermo.114 In Palermo, a guide by the name of Luigi, a muleteer he later mentioned in Sicilian Scenery and Antiquities, three mules, and one more horse were appointed for touring the entire island. 115 The primary stop for them following Palermo was at Segesta, where Cole did drawings on the 22nd and 23rd of April (fig. 18).116 Before moving on to Syracuse, the ancient capital, on the eastern side of the island, Cole and Ainsley went along the southern coast of Sicily to see the ruins at Selinunte and Agrigento.117 By May 9th, the two had made it to Catania and decided to ascend Mount Etna early in the morning before sunrise.118 In 1842, Cole wrote a poem that echoes his experiences of the ascent.119 Two years later, a detailed report of the adventure is to be found in Cole’s essay Sicilian Scenery and Antiquities; an abridged version of the poem is included in this text.120 In order to show the mules the path over the lava beds, an additional guide and a man carrying a lantern were required.121 On May 10th, Cole and Ainsley reached the peak of the volcano just in time to see the rising sun.122 After an hour or so at the summit, the two artists began their way downwards, taking a slightly different path from the one taken upwards. 123 This route brought them beyond an ancient altar as well as along the border of a large crater at the side of the volcano known to be the Val del Bove (Valley of the Oxen).124 Cole and Ainsley continued 113. Ibid. See also Noble, 1856, pp. 324–329. Parry, 1988, p. 270. 115 Ibid. Cole, 1844, p. 109. See appendix no. 3. 116 Parry, 1988, p. 270. 117 Ibid. 118 Ibid. See also the vivid description of the ascent in Noble, 1856, pp. 325–329. 119 Marshall B. Tymn (ed.), Thomas Cole’s Poetry. The collected poems of America’s foremost painter of the Hudson River School reflecting his feelings for nature and the romantic spirit of the nineteenth century, York, Pennsylvania: Liberty Cap Books, 1972, pp. 134–135. See also appendix no. 2. 120 Cole, 1844, pp. 110–113. See appendix no. 3. 121 Parry, 1988, p. 270. 122 Ibid. 123 Ibid., p. 271. 124 Ibid. 114. 24.

(26) northward to the town of Taormina, where Cole formed drawings of the view from the Graeco-Roman theater on May 16th.125 Lastly, the two men went across the northern border of the island until they arrived at Palermo, ending the tour of Sicily hurriedly.126 Cole had returned to Rome from his trip by the evening of May 20th.127 The next day, May 21st, Cole wrote to his wife, sending word to her of his plans for homecoming and informing her on the progress of The Voyage of Life series.128 Neatly put together with a brief sketch of his journey, the main intent of his letter was to report to his wife the state of his own physical health, which was much improved due to the Sicilian trip.129 Cole also mentioned his intention of bringing his four pictures of The Voyage of Life to England.130 Before leaving Rome on May 27th, Cole suddenly realized that transporting The Voyage of Life to England would have been terribly costly, while the risk of damage to the works was also a concern.131 As an alternative, sending the paintings by sea, a much safer option, would not have been possible since time was running short.132 Eventually, Cole shipped the repainted series back to New York directly with the consideration of bringing or sending them to England afterwards for public display and possible sale.133 With the desire to be in England to board the steamship Great Western soon enough, Cole took the fastest way northward, by water from Rome towards Genoa, then onwards by land reaching Milan.134 During his stay in Milan, Cole saw Leonardo 125. Ibid. Ibid. 127 Ibid. 128 Ibid. 129 Ibid., p. 272. 130 Ibid. 131 Ibid. 132 Ibid. 133 Ibid. 134 Ibid. 126. 25.

(27) da Vinci’s Last Supper in its ruined condition within the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, in addition to various drawings of the Renaissance master in the Ambrosian Library. 135 In June of 1842, Cole passed the Lago Maggiore in order to arrive in Switzerland and onwards to England,136 marking the end to Cole’s second, and final, journey to Italy. Apart from the fact that the travels described above provided him with invaluable memories, Cole returned home with a great number of oil sketches and notebooks filled with pencil drawings all executed on site. With these drawings, he not only memorized outlines and single motifs of the respective location, but he also tried to capture the atmosphere of the moment, filling his notebooks with descriptions of the situation on the spot. These visual recollections offered him a veritable treasure for his work, from which he benefited for many years. The trips to Italy also brought change to Cole’s art. After seeing the ancient ruins of Italy during his journey, Cole was inspired to create lofty themes in his artwork.137 Especially after his first trip, the architectural details in the artist’s sketchbooks became more and more evident in his paintings.138. 135. Ibid. Ibid. 137 Blaugrund, 2016, p. 22. 138 Ibid. 136. 26.

(28) 4. “The greatest of all landscape painters”—Thomas Cole and Claude While Cole’s writings—his letters, diaries, and essays—reverberate a persistent admiration for the greatest of the old masters, one artist is more often mentioned and more highly praised than all others, the French landscapist Claude Lorrain (1600–82). Cole’s works—and not least those representing Italian sceneries—owe much to the French landscape painter. Cole’s contemporaries, too, felt his close proximity to Claude. It was, therefore, only understandable that someone would call him “American Claude,” as Samuel B. Ruggles did in a letter to William H. Seward dated July 24th, 1841. 139 In order to better understand the form and substance of Cole’s Arcadian landscapes with ruins on the one hand and his concept of the ‘sublime’ on the other, it seems appropriate to highlight further his relation to the master. Claude Lorrain, the earliest great French artist to specialize in landscape painting, is regarded as one of the most distinguished masters of ideal landscape (figs. 6, 7, 8). 140 Claude’s contribution to ideal landscape painting was his unique way of rendering light to unify his compositions and to create a particular atmosphere in the scenery.141 He contributed to setting autonomous landscape painting on an equal level with history painting, the highest form of Western painting, thus elevating the status of landscape painting.142 Having emerged in Venice about 1510, ideal landscape painting subsequently. 139. “My dear governor, Our ‘American Claude,’ (Tom Cole) at my instigation has painted, in his peculiar autumn style, a picture of the great gorge of the Genesee at Portage.” Quoted after Parry, 1988, p. 222 (University of Rochester Library). 140 Édouard Kopp, Capturing Nature’s Beauty: Three Centuries of French Landscapes, exhibition catalog, Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2009, p. 10; Arne Neset, Arcadian Waters and Wanton Seas: The Iconology of Waterscapes in Nineteenth-Century Transatlantic Culture, New York [et al.]: Peter Lang, 2009, p. 32. 141 Michael Kitson, “Claude (le) Lorrain [2003],” in: Grove Art Online, in: http:////www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao9781884446054-e-7000018011 (retrieved May 20th, 2018). 142 Richard Rand, “Between Nature and Culture: an Introduction to Claude’s Drawings,” in: Richard Rand, Antony Griffiths and Colleen M. Terry (eds.), Claude Lorrain: the Painter as Draftsman, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2006, pp. 21–43, here p. 22.. 27.

(29) developed as an artistic genre presenting perfected natural scenery.143 Elements from classical antiquity, like ancient ruins, are often included within the landscape of such works.144 The fusion of nature and classical ruins evoke nostalgic sentiments for the past and recall a lost paradise, Arcadia, a legendary idyllic region strewed with destroyed monuments.145 The inspiration for ideal landscapists is the pastoral beauty of the Roman Campagna, a countryside on the outskirts of Rome where remains of antiquity pervade.146 Roman ruins were characteristic motifs in Claude’s works.147 A favorite of the British aristocracy, Claude was widely appreciated in England throughout the late 17th and 18th centuries.148 The obsession for Claude in England was so great that it would not be overstating to claim that almost all his works, including paintings, drawings and prints, have been in English collections at one time or another.149 It is known that by 1830, around two-thirds of Claude’s paintings were in English collections.150 While in the era of Enlightenment, concepts of Nature and landscape were developing, Claude’s works became, for a period of time, the measure for landscape painting. 151 This is also echoed in Cole’s words when, for example, confessing to Dunlap:. 143. Kitson, 2003. Neset, 2009, p. 32. 145 Argyro Loukaki, “Greece: ancient ruinous landscapes, aesthetic identity, and issues of development,” in: Dialogues d’histoire ancienne 30, no. 1, 2004, pp. 147–164, here p. 148. 146 Neset, 2009, p. 32; Sonnabend, 2011, p. 17. 147 Paul Zucker, Fascination of Decay: Ruins: Relic, Symbol, Ornament, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Gregg Press, 1968, p. 47. 148 Moses Foster Sweetser, Titian. Guido Reni. Claude Lorraine, Riverside, Cambridge: Houghton, Osgood, 1880, p. 82; Timothy J. Standring, “Claude Lorrain. San Francisco, Williamstown and Washington,” in: The Burlington Magazine 149, no. 1250, French Art, May, 2007, pp. 356–357, here p. 356. 149 Sonnabend, 2011, p. 17. 150 Kitson, 2003. 151 Sonnabend, 2011, p. 17. 144. 28.

(30) “Claude, to me, is the greatest of all landscape painters: and, indeed, I should rank him with Raphael or Michael Angelo. Poussin I delighted in, and Rysdael for his truth, which is equal to Claude, but not so choice.”152 And in another context, he says: “The works of the Old Masters have been my greatest study and admiration. In Landscape my favourites are Claude and Gaspar Poussin; but not to the exclusion of others.”153 In that regard, he compares the work of Claude and the French-Italian artist Gaspard Dughet (Gaspard Poussin; 1615–75).154 Cole, moreover, confronted the works of the two fellow countrymen Claude and Nicolas Poussin, much to the benefit of the former: “He [N. Poussin] has not the glowing and elaborate beauty of Claude.”155 Here, he underlines Claude’s way of using the marked chiaroscuro which gives the landscape a shimmering quality. When reading Cole’s judgement of William Turner’s later works, which he considered “to have an artificial look” and to “be fine, but […] not true,”156 it becomes once more obvious, what he was interested in: “Nature, in her most exquisite beauty, abounds in darkness and dullness; above all, she possesses solidity.”157 In Cole’s eyes, the late Turner lacked the gravitas that was imminent in Claude Lorrain’s paintings. Claude’s paintings of pastoral landscapes (figs. 7, 8) served as models for imitation among many artists, less in Italy and France, but all the more in England and America. 158 Cole was much indebted to Claude’s characteristic compositional devices.159 The use of golden light and framing motifs seen in Cole’s paintings were 152. Dunlap, 1918, p. 156; Noble, 1856, p. 171. Noble, 1856, p. 120. 154 Gaspard adopted the name Poussin from his master, Nicolas Poussin. On Dughet see Marie-Nicole Boisclair, “Dughet [Poussin], Gaspard,” in: Oxford Art Online, in: http://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao9781884446054-e-7000023968?rskey=PQ452s&result=2 (retrieved May 20th, 2018). 155 Noble, 1856, p. 304. 156 Noble, 1856, p. 114; Dunlap, 1918, p. 158. 157 Noble, 1856, p. 114. 158 Kitson, 2003. Sonnabend, 2011, p. 17. 159 Parry, 1988, p. 191. 153. 29.

(31) deeply influenced by Claude. 160 It is known that Cole carefully studied Claude’s works in the museums.161 Another important source for his followers, with Cole being no exception, was the large set of Claude’s drawings after his own paintings published as aquatint etchings in the so-called Liber Veritatis (now British Museum, London; fig. 6); what was meant by Claude as a means against forgery, accelerated subsequently the dissemination of his compositions.162 Cole’s Italian Scene, Composition (fig. 5), executed after the first journey to Italy in 1833, 163 owes much to Claude’s pastoral landscapes, a fact that can be demonstrated by a comparison with the latter’s Pastoral Landscape with the Arch of Titus of 1644164 and Pastoral Landscape with the Ponte Molle of 1645 (figs. 7, 8).165 Claude’s scenes represent an ideal realm inspired by topographical elements of the Roman Campagna, in which he integrates—as in a capriccio—architectural elements borrowed from other contexts, such as the Arch of Titus and the Ponte Molle. These newly invented landscapes with recognizable items recall a somewhat familiar yet unattainable far-off place. Claude does not attempt to make his sceneries realistic, but instead idealizes them. His views are, therefore, not topographically accurate in a strict sense. In his Italian Scene, Composition, Cole, too, combines landscape elements he had found at the actual sites of the Roman Campagna with the architectures reminding the 160. Ibid., p. 192. Standring, 2007, p. 356. December 14th, 1829; Parry, 1988, pp. 101, 118 (Cole, 1829 notebook, pp. 16–17, Cole Papers, NYSL). 162 Claude Lorrain, Liber Veritatis. Or, A Collection of Two Hundred Prints, After the Original Designs of Claude le Lorrain, in the Collection of His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, Executed by Richard Earlom, in the Manner and Taste of the Drawings [...], 2 vols., London: John Boydell, 1774–77; additional vol., London: Thomas Davison, for Hurst, Robinson, & Co., 1819. Michael Kitson and Marcel Roethlisberger, “Claude Lorrain and the Liber veritatis, I–III,” in: The Burlington Magazine 101, 1959, pp. 14–24, 328–337, 381–388. 163 Italian Scene, Composition, 1833, oil on canvas, 95.2 × 138.4 cm, The New-York Historical Society, inv. 1858.19. 164 Pastoral Landscape with the Arch of Titus, 1644, oil on canvas, 102 × 135 cm, Private Collection; inscribed indistinctly and dated 1644. 165 Pastoral Landscape with the Ponte Molle, 1645, oil on canvas, 74.5 × 98 cm, Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery; inscribed lower left: “Claudio Roma 1645.” 161. 30.

(32) round Temple of Vesta in Tivoli on the left hand side and the Aqua Claudia on the right part of the painting. The overall composition of the painting that distinguishes a foreground with small figures, a hilly middle ground with ruins, and a background with high mountains standing out against a clear sky recalls Claude’s way of structuring his pictures. The sections are parallel to the picture surface. Cole’s painting shows an apparent influence of Claude’s chiaroscuro effect. The bold contrasts of light and shadow evidently emphasize the pictures’ division into three main sections: the darker foreground, the lighter middle ground, and the clear background. The arrangement of figures in the foreground is a device Cole learned from Claude. The minuscule staffage figures make the entire natural scenery appear monumental. Cole includes ruins in his painting and combines these ruins with bucolic scenes that contain shepherds and livestock. Such designs are found in Claude’s work, too. Cole also picked up the way Claude handled the light in his painted scenes. Chiaroscuro was used to highlight the details and to make contrasts. For example, lighter colors on the surface of figures or animals help outline their shape; dark-toned trees set against the bright-colored sky form strong contrasts. Like Claude, Cole would also manipulate the light on his picture plane to make it softly glow through the painted trees, creating a warm atmosphere felt around the leaves of the partly transparent tree. Cole unquestionably inherited from Claude his way of constructing compositions, which, as a result, became Cole’s own formula for creating serene, harmonious scenes, a painting strategy that would recur in Cole’s art.. 31.

(33) 5. Thomas Cole’s Notion of Arcadia 5.1. Arcadia in Literature and Art Arcadia, the visionary pastoral setting of tranquility, leisure and beauty, has long been widely appealing as an artistic subject, both in literature and visual arts, ever since ancient times. The name Arcadia points out to two parallel phenomena, one being factual, the other fictive.166 The factual Arcadia (Greek: Ἀρκαδία) is a mountainous region in central Peloponnesus in southern Greece, with relatively isolated residents living simple, pastoral lives in olden days.167 The fictive Arcadia, instead, as it appears in antique literature, was envisioned as an imaginary dreamland, which draws on aspects of the existing geographical location only along general lines. 168 As the projection of the poets’ imagination, Arcadia is a world of no definite location and no precise time. 169 Fancied as an ideal place unreachable to outsiders, the legendary Arcadia is depicted as a peaceful, pleasant rural landscape inhabited by herders of sheep, goats or bovines.170 The god of Arcadia is Pan, a creature that is half goat, half man.171 According to classical writers, Arcadian shepherd-poets and their deity, Pan, would join to make music.172 The Greek poet Theocritus of Syracuse (308–240 BC) was the first to compose pastoral poems, his Idylls, establishing the genre of bucolic poetry. 173 Theocritus’ 166. Vernon Hyde Minor, The Death of the Baroque and the Rhetoric of Good Taste, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 61. 167 Stephen J. Tonsor, “Arcadia,” in: Jean-Charles Seigneuret (ed.), Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs, Westport, Connecticut and London: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1988, pp. 105–112, here pp. 105–106. 168 Ibid., p. 106. 169 Luba Freedman, The Classical Pastoral in the Visual Arts, New York [et al.]: Peter Lang, 1989, p. 106. 170 Elettra Carbone, Nordic Italies: Representations of Italy in Nordic Literature from the 1830s to the 1910s, Rome: Edizioni Nuova Cultura, 2016, p. 87. 171 Allan R. Ruff, Arcadian Visions: Pastoral Influences on Poetry, Painting and the Design of Landscape, Oxford: Windgather Press, 2015, p. 1. 172 Ibid. 173 Martha Hale Shackford, “A Definition of the Pastoral Idyll,” in: PMLA 19, no. 4, 1904, pp. 583–592, here p. 584; Mark Heerink, Echoing Hylas: A Study in Hellenistic and Roman Metapoetics, Madison, Wisconsin and London: University of Wisconsin Press, 2015, p. 54.. 32.

(34) poems were closely imitated by the Roman author Virgil (70–19 BC), who in his Eclogues (also: Bucolics), written around 42–39 BC, finally, invented the place known to be Arcadia (4:58–59), relating to the respective rural region of Greece.174 The music of the Arcadians includes songs performed during singing contests which were usually associated with the fundamental questions of humanity: life and death, love and loss, freedom and bondage.175 It has been correctly underlined in more recent research that Virgil’s Arcadian herdsmen are confronted with both fortune and misfortune.176 Therefore, poetry is considered a perfect remedy for the hardship of life.177 The vision of Arcadia constantly includes nostalgic undertones. Besides singing about emotions aroused by love and loss, the Arcadian shepherds also praise the enjoyment of their lives and surroundings.178 Such songs reveal the life of the Arcadians, a life of innocence and contentment, in perfect harmony with Nature. Main facets of this spiritual Arcadia are, hence, pastoral pleasure and apparent simplicity. 179 Due to their seeming unity with Nature, herdsmen were stylized to advocate an ideal life. It comes from a yearning for bliss and freedom from sin, with the belief that happiness is achieved through joining Nature and leaving the civilized world behind.180 Arcadia can, thus, be seen as a version of paradise, which is difficult to be reached. The pastoral tradition remained a source of poetic inspiration even after the 174. Paul J. Alpers, Publius Vergilius Maro and Virgil, Bucolica, Berkeley [et al.]: University of California Press, 1979, p. 2; Ruff, 2015, p. 8. Although not original, the title Eclogae (Engl.: Eclogues) for Virgil’s bucolic poetry prevails today. Nicholas Horsfall, “Some Problems of Titulature in Roman Literary History,” in: University of London, Institute of Classical Studies: Bulletin (BICS) 28, 1981, pp. 103–114, here pp. 108–109. David Rosand, “Giorgione, Venice, and the Pastoral Vision,” in: Robert C. Cafritz, Lawrence Gowing and David Rosand (eds.), Places of Delight: The Pastoral Landscape, Washington, D.C.: Phillips Collection, 1988, pp. 20–81, here p. 26. Brooks Otis, Virgil, a Study in Civilized Poetry, Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995, p. 97. 175 Rosand, 1988, p. 39. 176 See the introduction by Gregson Davis to Len Krisak (ed.), Virgil’s Eclogues, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010, pp. vii–xviii, here esp. pp. ix–xiii. 177 Ibid., p. xiv. 178 Shackford, 1904, p. 587. 179 Neset, 2009, p. 30. 180 Marsha S. Collins, Imagining Arcadia in Renaissance Romance, New York: Routledge, 2016, p. 6.. 33.

(35) classical period. 181 In the Renaissance, Italian poet Jacopo Sannazaro (1457–1530) developed from Virgil his literary work Arcadia, the earliest pastoral romance in European literature. 182 Composed in the 1480s, Sannazaro’s Arcadia was first published in 1502, and then once more in 1504.183 Being immensely successful, the pastoral novel was extremely popular not only in Sannazaro’s lifetime but also afterwards up to the later 18th century. 184 This was due to the fact that the book embodied the trends of thought of its time.185 Another possibility would be that it was written in the vernacular and could hence reach a wider audience.186 The inspiration for all later Renaissance and Baroque pastorals originates from this famous work.187 The pictorial quality of Arcadian poetry has inspired Renaissance artists. In early 16th-century Venice, landscape painting developed in line with poetry. 188 The atmosphere of literary Arcadia was well captured by Venetian artists such as Giovanni Bellini (c. 1431–1516), but especially Giorgione (c. 1477/78–1510) and Titian (c. 1488–1576).189 It was in their art that the earliest visual records of the pastoral took form. The significance of the Venetian artists to the pastoral tradition was in the development of the idea of painting as a sort of poetry.190 Then, it was through 17th-century artist Claude Lorrain that the Arcadian. 181. Rosand, 1988, p. 26. Ruff, 2015, p. 37; Matteo Soranzo, “Jacopo Sannazaro (1457–1530),” in: Gaetana Marrone and Paolo Puppa (eds.), Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies, New York: Routledge, 2006, pp. 1674– 1678, here pp. 1675, 1677. 183 Collins, 2016, pp. 52–53; Freedman, 1989, p. 113. 184 Freedman, 1989, p. 113. 185 Ibid. 186 Rosand, 1988, p. 26. 187 Gerhart Hoffmeister, “Profiles of Pastoral Protagonists, 1504–1754: Derivations and Social Implications,” in: Reinhold Grimm and Jost Hermand (eds.), From the Greeks to the Greens: Images of the Simple Life, Madison, Wisconsin and London: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989, pp. 18–33, here p. 18. 188 Dagmar Korbacher, “Poetic Printmaking: Arcadia and Engravings of Giulio Campagnola,” in: Art in Print 4, no. 5, January–February, 2015, pp. 7–8. 189 Rosand, 1988, pp. 21–77. 190 Ruff, 2015, p. 35. 182. 34.

(36) landscape became most fully and steadily developed as a pictorial theme.191 Since he was living in Italy for the most part of his life, Claude was also well aware of the artistic development of the Venetian 16th century.. 5.2. Arcadia in Thomas Cole’s Art During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, there were a number of writers and artists who viewed Italy as Arcadia. 192 This association of Italy with Arcadia was not a Romantic invention, as images of Arcadia are already set in Sicily in both Idylls of Theocritus and Eclogues of Virgil.193 On the one hand, the artists could draw on these and the Renaissance literary sources. On the other, they studied the Arcadian phenomenon in the earlier visual arts. The pastoral landscapes of Claude Lorrain were certainly the most important references for European and American painters searching for the inspiration of Arcadia.194 Some details in his paintings, though, seem to derive from the knowledge of paintings by Giorgione and Titian, as will be shown below. Being an artist of the 19th century, Cole was perhaps no exception to those who saw Italy as Arcadia. It was probably because of this notion that led him to his own journey to the country in 1831, to find inspiration in Arcadia. Inspired by the experiences of his Italian journeys, Cole depicted his image of Arcadia in three of his paintings, the titles of which include the place name. These. 191. Robert C. Cafritz, “Classical Revision of the Pastoral Landscape,” in: Robert C. Cafritz, Lawrence Gowing and David Rosand (eds.), Places of Delight: The Pastoral Landscape, Washington, D.C.: Phillips Collection, 1988, pp. 82–111, here p. 107. 192 Andrea Mariani, “Sleeping and Waking Fauns: Harriet Goodhue Hosmer’s Experience of Italy, 1852–1870,” in: Irma B. Jaffe (ed.), The Italian Presence in American Art, 1760-1860, New York: Fordham University Press, 1989, pp. 66–81, here p. 66. 193 Carbone, 2016, p. 88. 194 Christian Rümelin, “Claude Lorrain and the Notion of Printed Arcadian Landscapes,” in: Art in Print 4, no. 5, 2015, pp. 12–16. Sonnabend, 2011, p. 17.. 35.

(37) paintings are The Course of Empire: The Pastoral or Arcadian State of 1834, 195 Dream of Arcadia of 1838, and An Evening in Arcadia of 1843 (figs. 9–11).196 A close look at them may provide an idea of Cole’s Arcadian vision. The canvas titled The Course of Empire: The Pastoral or Arcadian State (fig. 9) is the second painting in The Course of Empire series, representing one site in a cycle of five different states and eras in a transition from a primitive society to an advanced civilization.197 Cole’s description of the cycle, published in the November issues of The American Monthly Magazine and The Knickerbocker of 1836, helps to better understand the iconography.198 Situated between the negatively connoted Savage State and the Consummation of Empire, where decadence foreshadows the final Destruction, Cole interprets Arcadia as a visual localization of an ideal, albeit fugitive, condition. The painter chose a Claudian landscape—even though a North American scenery might be intended—that is peopled with small figures leading their lives in harmony with Nature within a peaceful landscape illuminated by a fresh morning light, “a few hours after sunrise, and in the early summer.”199 The people in the painting are miniaturized with regard to the huge trees in the foreground and the dramatic mountain massif in the background. Unlike in Claude Lorrain’s landscapes, where small figures are often integrated into coherent mythological scenes, Cole’s figures rendered in miniature are each engaged in their own business, apparently at peace with the vast land: a woman is working with distaff and spindle; an old man is carving geometric forms on the ground; a young boy is drawing a figure, maybe loosely referring to the anecdote of young Giotto learning to draw after nature related 195. The Course of Empire: The Pastoral or Arcadian State, 1834, oil on canvas, 99.70 × 160.66 cm, The New-York Historical Society, inv. 1858.2. 196 An Evening in Arcadia, 1843, oil on canvas, 82.87 × 122.87 cm, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut. Bequest of Clara Hinton Gould, inv. 1948.190. 197 Noble, 1856, pp. 176–177. 198 Thomas Cole, “Cole’s Pictures of the Course of Empire,” in: The Knickerbocker 8, November, 1836, p. 629 (see appendix no. 1). 199 Ibid.. 36.

阿卡迪亞的遺址 湯瑪士·科爾之義大利風景畫研究

阿卡迪亞的遺址湯瑪士·科爾之義大利風景畫研究