Summer 1825

Thomas Cole makes his first extended sketching trip up the Hudson River, visiting the Hudson Highlands, the Catskill Mountain House, Kaaterskill Falls, and the Village of Catskill. The trip inspires five paintings, including Falls of the Kaaterskill, View of Fort Putnam, and Lake with Dead Trees.

October-November 1825 

Thomas Cole exhibits Falls of the Kaaterskill, View of Fort Putnam, and Lake with Dead Trees in the shop of New York picture dealer William A. Colman, where they are offered for sale at $25 each, the equivalent of $802 in 2025. The works attracted the attention of John Trumbull, known for his historical paintings of the American Revolutionary War, who purchases Falls of the Kaaterskilll. William Dunlap, a theater director and artist, purchases Lake with Dead Trees and and Asher Brown Durand, an engraver, purchases View of Fort Putnam.

November 14, 1825 

In a letter to Robert Gilmore of Baltimore, Trumbull reports, “A young man of the name of T. Cole, has just made his appearance here…[he] has surprised us with landscapes of the most uncommon merit.”

November 16, 1825

The president of the New-York Drawing Association, Samuel F. Morse, proposes Thomas Cole as a candidate for membership. Two months later when the association is transformed into the National Academy of Design, Thomas Cole is elected a founding member.

November 22, 1825

The New York Evening Post likens the paintings to “those works which have been the boast of Europe and the admiration of the ages” and The New-York Literary Gazette introduces Thomas Cole to its readers as an “American genius.”

Research from Shanon Vittoria, “Chronology,” Thomas Cole’s Journey, 2018, The Metropolitan Museum of Art