Object number1864.1.19

Autumn Eve at Vallombrosa

Datec. 1831

Artist Thomas Cole (American, 1801-1848)

CultureAmerican

MediumOil on board

DimensionsUnframed: 8 3/4 x 7 in. (22.23 x 17.78 cm)
Framed: 14 1/8 x 12 1/4 x 2 3/4 in. (35.88 x 31.12 x 6.99 cm)

Credit LineGift of Matthew Vassar

Period19th c

Classification(s)

Painting

SignedNot signed

BibliographyAll Seasons and Every Light, (Poughkeepsie: FLLAC, 1983), p. 43, repr; Bland, Bartholomew F. "Romancing the Moon: The Allure of the Hudson River School Nocturne." In Laura Vookles and Bartholomew F. Bland, The Color of the Moon: Lunar Painting in American Art. Yonkers, NY: Hudson River Museum, Doylestown, PA: James A. Michener Art Museum, and New York, NY: Fordham University Press, 2019, pp. 44-46; Neely, Evan Robert. “Cartography, Composition, and the Place of the Painter.” In Political Economy, Race, and the Image of Nature in the United States, 1825-1878. New York, NY: Routledge, 2024, p. 81ProvenanceCollections: Elias Magoon
Exhibition HistoryPoughkeepsie, NY, Vassar College Art Gallery, "All Seasons and Every Light" 14 Oct. - 16 Dec. 1983

Lincoln, MA, DeCordova and Dana Museum and Park, "All Seasons and Every Light" 5 Feb. - 25 March, 1984.

West Palm Beach, FL, Norton Museum of Art, "All Seasons and Every Light" 25 March - 1 July 1984.

Evanston, IL, Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, Northwestern University, "All Seasons and Every Light" 16 Nov. 1984 - 13 Jan. 1985.

Label TextOften labelled the father of American landscape painting, Thomas Cole was born in England and immigrated to the United States as a teenager. Moving to New York City, he found an eager audience for his pictures of northeastern scenery. Cole returned to Europe between 1829 and 1832, hoping to find inspiration in the art galleries and landscapes of England, France, and Italy. The traveling painter likely composed Autumn Eve at Vallombrosa during his travels around Florence in 1831. This sketch features a crescent moon overlooking the shadowy forest of Vallombrosa, rising toward a Benedictine Abbey. A lone artist, accompanied by materials for outdoor sketching, rests on an outcropping in the right foreground. In his famed Essay on American Scenery of 1836, Cole compared this particular site to the vistas of his beloved United States: “We have many a spot as umbrageous as Vallombrosa… but [John] Milton and Petrarch have not hallowed them by their footsteps and immortal verse.”

Terms

landscapes (representations)

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu