Explore Thomas Cole

Hudson River School painter and member of the National Academy of Design, where he took drawing lessons as a young aspiring artist. Like Asher B. Durand, Gifford turned from portrait to landscape painting after going on several sketching trips to the Catskills. Gifford may be considered a second-generation Hudson River School painter, turning away from Cole’s dramatic painting style in favor of a more subdued approach. A classic example of Gifford’s luminist work is Kauterskill Clove (1862). See Sanford R. Gifford.