Pessimistic Romanticism: Thomas Cole's Unique Twist

The 19^th century movement of Romanticism was characterized by an emphasis on the sublime. Romantics believed moral development came as one took in the awesome force of nature. Thomas Cole was an American painter who had a monumental role in developing Romanticism in America. The English-born artist helped give American Romanticism its start in America as well as developing a unique twist the movement that differentiated American works from European works. Thomas Cole’s works were focused more on the nature itself, lacking the obvious human presence in European pieces of the time. Additionally, Cole’s work added to the sublime feeling of nature common to Romanticism a sense of desolation and ruin. In works such as his Course of Empire series, The Titan’s Goblet, The Oxbow, and The Mountain Ford there is a sense of loss and dangerous tension. Cole’s work differed from European Romantic works such as The Hay Wain and Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog that emphasized man’s place in and with nature. Cole’s more forbidding pieces seem to argue that these European works are naïve in their assumption that nature is something man can reason with and live in. Both Cole and his European contemporaries agree on the superiority of nature, but Cole is more pessimistic – viewing nature as a mysterious, wild force that may or may not cooperate. His development of Romanticism in America went on to inspire other Americans to imitate his interpretation of the movement, with works such as Durand’s Landscape—Scene from "Thanatopsis" echoing man’s transience in face of nature.

The Oxbow, Thomas Cole, 1836, Oil on canvas, 51 1/2 x 76 in, Met: 08.228

This piece by Thomas Cole was made three years after the completion of The Titan’s Goblet. The landscape painting reinforces the sentiments made in The Titan’s Goblet that differ from European Romanticists. While there is a human presence – the painter recording the scene and scattered bits of human settlement on the right – the main focus is the wildness of the untamed land on the left. The human presence is in the background, while the power of the wild is tangibly present. Humanity appears small and insignificant before the mighty storm. This painting does seem to offer a bit of an optimistic view, perhaps suggesting that man is destined to cultivate the seemingly uncultivatable. However, Cole will expand on this idea of human cultivation in a pessimistic way in other paintings. His main ideas of nature’s ferocity and difference from humanity is present in this painting – there is a tension between the two.

The Mountain Ford, Thomas Cole, 1846, 28 1/4 x 40 1/16 in., Oil on canvas, Met: 15.30.63 

The Mountain Ford furthers Cole’s arguments in The Titan’s Goblet and The Oxbow and also differs from European Romantics. The painting focuses on the dark, looming mountain in the distance, with the human rider small and uncertain before the mysterious wilderness. Once again we see Cole shift Romanticism to an even more nature focused view, with man playing a subordinate side role. Nature is presented as unfathomable and overwhelming. The rider, despite his bright white horse and rich red attire, seems insignificant before the simple but staggering wilderness of black and green. Nature presides.

The Course of Empire: Desolation, Thomas Cole, 1836, 39 1/4 x 63 1/4 in., Oil on canvas, Wikiart

The final entry in Cole’s The Course of Empire series, this work most obviously mirrors The Titan’s Goblet and expands on the arguments of The Oxbow and The Mountain Ford. The series depicts how humanity settled nature, developed an imperial civilization from a pastoral one, and then destroyed itself with war. This final painting shows nature recovering over man’s ruin. Nature exists before man and exists afterwards. The transience of man and the permanence of nature is highlighted. Drawing upon The Oxbow and The Mountain Ford, we see that man’s initial discovery of nature (The Mountain Ford) and their pastoral settling of the land (The Oxbow) will ultimately result in Desolation. The Titan’s Goblet may be seen as the cycle restarting, as new explorers settle upon the ruins of a past civilization. Cole’s The Course of Empire series is a pessimistic critique of humanity’s expansion and an exaltation of nature’s superiority.

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, Caspar David Friedrich, 1818, 3′ 1″ x 2′ 5″, Oil on canvas, Wikiart 

This notable Romantic piece by German Caspar David Friedrich differs from Cole’s works and sentiments. The wanderer is made the focus of the painting, with the landscape set before and below him. Nature is still mysterious and vast, but there is a greater sense of understanding between man and nature. There is admiration and awe, but less of Cole’s fear and wildness. The wanderer leans confidently on his cane, optimistic about understanding and exploring the vastness. The European Romantic painting lacks the fear and tension of The Oxbow and The Mountain Ford as well as the sense of doom and inevitable destruction of Desolation and hinted at in The Titan’s Goblet. 

The Hay Wain, John Constable, 1821, 51 ¹⁄4 in × 73 in., Oil on canvas, Wikiart

John Constable’s work depicts a rural English setting featuring a bucolic cottage and farmer guiding his wagon across a river. The painting shows a union between humanity and nature. The idyllic scene ignores the reality of the Industrial Revolution and argues that man may work with and in nature without there being conflict between the two. While Cole does portray pastoral scenes similar to this one in The Oxbow and his Course of Empire series, humanity’s presence is far off and distanced from the nature. Additionally, Constable’s piece lacks the ever-present tension between man and nature in Cole’s works. Constable view nature and humanity as close and harmonious, whereas Cole warns against man’s corrupt and transient nature before an incomprehensible wild. Cole takes the European Romantic tenets but adds a unique twist.

Landscape—Scene from "Thanatopsis", Asher Brown Durand, 1850, Oil on canvas,   Met: 11.156

Durand’s painting is evidence of Cole’s influence in shaping Romanticism in America. This landscape scene draws from Cole’s themes of nature’s permanence and humanity’s cycle from pastoral settlement to urbanized settlement to desolation. The human presence is diminutive before the vast wilderness in the background. The funeral service and ruins in the foreground remind us of man’s transience and nature’s inevitable ability to reclaim and endure. There is an acknowledgment that though man will keep on cultivating, nature will always reign above, waiting to reclaim its territory once desolation occurs. With this work, Durand furthers Coles American Romanticism. The cycle is beginning anew. Just as the intrepid explorers of The Titan’s Goblet crawl over the massive chalice, Durand’s farmer begins the pastoral process which will lead to desolation of man and an unchanged nature.