The Cross in the Wilderness

Published on the occasion of the exhibition New Frontier: American Art Enters the Louvre. Thomas Cole and the Birth of Landscape Painting in America, Musée du Louvre until April 16, 2012.

Since 1975, the Louvre has had in its collection a luminous painting by Thomas Cole (1801-1848), "The Cross in the Wilderness", which is the culmination of his quest to portray a certain type of American landscape - the wilderness, the mythical archetype of grandiose and unspoiled nature. He drew inspiration from early American literary works, including "The Last of the Mohicans", published in 1826. This painting also contains many references to the art of the Old World ; Cole, who was born in England and visited Europe on several occasions, was familiar with its many schools of painting.

The work represents an important milestone in his oeuvre, which was heavily influenced by the work of Claude Lorrain and Turner, as seen in the sensitive treatment of light and particularly original scenography. Guillaume Faroult unravels and analyzes the complex interplay of artistic devices that lie behind the work's apparent and luminous simplicity.
Close