9781422276457

THE GREAT OBJECT

associations are not so much of the past as of the present and future.” It was, arguably, America’s fledgling literary community that first gave encouragement and, on occasion, considerable inspiration to the visual artists of Cole’s generation. James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving were two of the most prominent representatives of this initial wave of enthusiasts. As literary artists, Cooper and Irving, in their examination of the country’s towns, frontier outposts, and still untamed or newly discovered territory, were intent upon expanding the horizons of an Ameri- can cultural self-awareness.

Italian Landscape W ashington A llston . c. 1805; oil on canvas; 40 x 50 3/4 in. (102 x 129 cm). Addison Gallery of Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. While in Rome, Allston noted that the sixteenth-century Venetian masters Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese “leave the subject to be made by the spectator, provided he possessed the imaginative faculty.” An example of Allston’s mastery of neo- classicism, this landscape also shows signs of his distinctive rendering of clouds. Following page: Diana in the Chase W ashington A llston . 1805; oil on canvas; 65 5/8 x 97 5/8 in. (167 x 248 cm). President and Fellows, Harvard College, Harvard University Art Museums. Gift of Mrs. Edward W. Moore. Allston painted this large landscape while in Rome. It constituted a breakthrough for Allston toward Romanticism and for American art by elevating the role of mood in landscape. Rather than portray mere topographical detail, Allston builds an edifice of composition with stark mountains and an intensely expressive sky.

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