Albany, Taken from the East Side of the River
Thomas Cole (1801-1848)
Date:
c. 1844
Medium:
Ink on wove paper
Dimensions:
14 7/8 H x 17 1/2 W
Inscription:
Inscribed bottom center: Albany; inscribed bottom right: Taken from the east side of the river
Provenance:
Descended in the Cole Family to Mrs. Florence H.Cole Vincent, the artist's granddaughter.
Credit:
Albany Institute of History & Art Purchase
Accession Number:
1940.21.1
Comments:
This was a preparatory sketch for a large oil painting commissioned by a group of Albany citizens led by Isaiah Townsend. The painted mahogany panel was displayed in the cabin of the newly built USS Albany. Cole noted in a letter to Townsend that he had "made the public buildings rather more conspicuous than they appear in reality" and that he had not bothered to realistically represent the smaller buildings since "they are of so transitory a nature in an American city."
