Thomas Cole’s Guitar and Case
Maker: Luigi Filano Napoli Anno 1842 Strada Speranzella N 110, c. 1842
Wood, 36 × 12½ × 3¾ in.
Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Gift of Richard Sharp, TC.2010.1

Thomas Cole purchased this guitar in Italy during his second trip to Europe in 1842. Cole was a lover of music and would often play and sing for his family at their Catskill home. The distinctive appliqué pattern on the instrument’s body appears similar to that on the guitar in Cole’s painting A Pic-Nic Party, in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum.

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