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This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
Artist
Mathew B. Brady, 1823? - 15 Jan 1896
Sitter
Thomas Cole, 1 Feb 1801 - 11 Feb 1848
Date
c. 1845
Type
Photograph
Medium
Half-plate daguerreotype on silver-coated copper plate
Dimensions
Image/Sight: 12 × 8.9 cm (4 3/4 × 3 1/2")
Mat (brass): 14.2 × 10.9 cm (5 9/16 × 4 5/16")
Case open: 15.3 × 24.8 × 1 cm (6 × 9 3/4 × 3/8")
Case closed: 15.3 × 12.3 × 2 cm (6 × 4 13/16 × 13/16")
Topic
Interior
Cased object
Thomas Cole: Male
Thomas Cole: Literature\Writer\Poet
Thomas Cole: Visual Arts\Artist\Painter\Landscape painter
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Edith Cole Silberstein
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.76.11
Exhibition Label
Born Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire, England
Artist Thomas Cole was a founding member of the Hudson River School of American painting, which sought to capture the sublime grandeur of the nation’s natural landscape. Believing that the best art also conveyed a moral lesson, Cole achieved his greatest fame with two series of allegorical paintings entitled The Course of Empire (1836) and The Voyage of Life (1841).
From the outset of his career, Mathew Brady courted major artists and welcomed the opportunity to daguerreotype them. This portrait is one of two known copies Brady made of his original daguerreotype of Cole, which is now in the collection of the Library of Congress.
Nacido en Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire, Inglaterra
El artista Thomas Cole fue miembro fundador de la Escuela del Río Hudson, un grupo de pintores estadounidenses que aspiraba a captar la grandeza sublime de los paisajes naturales del país. Convencido de que el mejor arte implicaba también una lección moral, Cole alcanzó su mayor éxito con dos series de pinturas alegóricas tituladas The Course of Empire (El curso del imperio, 1836) y The Voyage of Life (El viaje de la vida, 1841).
Desde los inicios de su carrera, Mathew Brady se dedicó a atraer a artistas importantes, propiciando la ocasión de hacerles daguerrotipos. Este retrato es una de las dos copias conocidas que hizo de su daguerrotipo original de Cole, el cual pertenece a la colección de la Biblioteca del Congreso.
