‘Thomas Cole’s Studio’: What Might Have Been

In 1846, America’s pre-eminent landscape painter, Thomas Cole, achieved his longstanding objective to establish his “New Studio” at Cedar Grove, his home on the west bank of the Hudson River. The spacious purpose-built studio was possibly the first of its kind in the nation, and Cole filled it with finished paintings, oil sketches and drawings representing the span of his career and his ambitious plans for future large-scale works. In 1848, Cole suddenly died, shocking America’s art world. He was only 47 years old. Thereafter, his family preserved the New Studio as a shrine, its contents intact, granting entry to artists or visitors intent on studying his work seriously and reverentially. Nevertheless, by the mid-20th century, the New Studio had fallen into dereliction and was demolished in 1973.