View of Schroon Mountain, Essex County, New York, After a Storm
Championing the American wilderness, Cole declared, "We are still in Eden," in his Essay on American Scenery, published two years before he painted this view of the Adirondacks. The artist sketched the scene in early summer, but when he created the painting in his studio, he rendered it in a dramatic blaze of fall colors. Such a choice likely had nationalistic overtones; he once proclaimed that autumn was "one season where the American forest surpasses all the world in gorgeousness." Cole included two Indigenous men in the painting’s right foreground foliage. At this time, the Adirondacks remained home to many Native Americans long after most had been forcibly removed from land east of the Mississippi River. While continuing to live, hunt, and fish in the area, these Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples were compelled to significantly adapt their existence amid increasing White settlement and its attendant lumber, mining, and tourist industries.
Colors in this work
Details
- Date
- 1838
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- framed: height 1.325 m, width 1.935 m, depth 0.13 m; unframed: height 0.998 m, width 1.606 m
- Origin
- America
- Department
- American Painting and Sculpture
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Palette
-
Select a color to find related artworks.
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection
Art Genome Taxonomy
12 tags
Subject Matter
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Landscapes Both · 99%
The image is an expansive mountain-and-forest panorama, and the catalog identifies the subject as a view of Schroon Mountain in the Adirondacks.
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Atmospheric Landscapes Visual · 98%
Heavy storm clouds, atmospheric haze, distant ridges, and breaks of sunlight make changing weather central to the composition.
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Water Visual · 88%
A small body of water is visible through the lower foreground vegetation.
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The Seasons Both · 99%
Autumnal reds, oranges, ochers, and deep greens dominate the foliage, and the catalog specifically states that Cole transformed the summer sketch into a scene rendered in fall colors.
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The Sublime Interpretive · 84%
The immense mountain, expansive sky, dramatic weather, and relatively small scale of any human presence support a reading centered on the overwhelming grandeur of nature.
Styles and Movements
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Romanticism Interpretive · 70%
The monumental wilderness, heightened weather, and theatrical illumination are consistent with a cautious Romantic reading, although the catalog does not assign a formal style.
Visual Qualities
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Dark Colors Visual · 96%
Deep browns, greens, rusts, and muted atmospheric grays produce an overall dark tonal character, especially across the foreground and mountain valley.
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Earth Tones Visual · 96%
The foliage and landscape are dominated by ocher, brown, rust, crimson, and deep green earth-related hues.
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Dense Composition Visual · 95%
The image is densely layered with foreground trees and shrubs, a middle-distance valley, receding mountain slopes, and an expansive cloud-filled sky.
Medium and Techniques
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Oil Painting Metadata · 99%
The catalog identifies the work as an oil painting on canvas.
Time Periods
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19th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog dates the painting to 1838.
Geographic Regions
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American Art Metadata · 97%
The catalog gives the place of origin as America and identifies Cole as American.
Source & rights
Thomas Cole (American, born England,1801–1848). View of Schroon Mountain, Essex County, New York, After a Storm. Cleveland Museum of Art.
High-resolution sources
- Original TIFF ↗ 6,280 × 3,853 · Cleveland Museum Of Art · Available