The Meeting of the Waters
The Meeting of the Waters
- landscape
- boat
- river
- trees, landscape
- 19th century American
- American
- Hudson River School
- American
It is thought that this might be one of the last paintings done by Cole, who tragically died from pneumonia at the age of 47. It may be unfinished, since earlier allegorical landscapes of the pilgrim’s progress typically included tiny figures and have a greater level of detail. Whatever the case, this is a ravishing example of Cole’s mature landscape style and his ability to infuse nature with a divine sublimity that his audience readily recognized. While there are no supernatural phenomena in this sprawling landscape, Cole intended for its natural iconography to be read symbolically; for example, the three trees at the center left are emblematic of the three crosses of Calvary, thereby hinting at the pilgrim’s possibility of immortality through Christ’s redemption. The opening lines of the twenty-third Psalm may have been the textual inspiration for this extraordinary painting:
The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.