Emmy, Zoe and friend

Explore Thomas Cole | Interactive Tour

Explore Thomas Cole | Interactive Tour | The Course of Empire: The Arcadian or Pastoral State"

Cole was a 19th Century American landscape painter.

From the Thomas Cole Interactive Tour: "In the early nineteenth century, many in this country were searching for an art they could call their own. Painter, poet, and essayist, Thomas Cole responded to this quest by creating pristine landscape paintings unlike any yet seen in America. Critics, patrons, and fellow artists embraced his work enthusiastically, and Cole became the leader of an informal alliance of landscape artists now known as the Hudson River School. Cole, Asher B. Durand, Frederic E. Church, Sanford Gifford, Jasper Cropsey, and other painters, along with literary figures such as William Cullen Bryant and James Fenimore Cooper, established a notion of America as “Nature's Nation,” a concept that still resonates with artists, environmentalists, and landscape enthusiasts to this day."

A nice cherry tree pic (from Tim)

Tim's Favorite Neptune Photo

Photo by Tim Harris

Look Around

To produce this 360 degree view, I took several overlapping photos from the same location and then merged them using Photosynth.com.

Arcadia

From Wikipedia: Arcadia (Greek: Ἀρκαδία) refers to a vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature. The term is derived from the Greek province of the same name which dates to antiquity; the province's mountainous topography and sparse population of pastoralists later caused the word Arcadia to develop into a poetic byword for an idyllic vision of unspoiled wilderness. Arcadia is associated with bountiful natural splendor, harmony, and is often inhabited by shepherds. The concept also figures in Renaissance mythology. Commonly thought of as being in line with Utopian ideals, Arcadia differs from that tradition in that it is more often specifically regarded as unattainable. Furthermore, it is seen as a lost, Edenic form of life, contrasting to the progressive nature of Utopian desires. The inhabitants were often regarded as having continued to live after the manner of the Golden Age, without the pride and avarice that corrupted other regions. It is also sometimes referred to in English poetry as Arcady. The inhabitants of this region bear an obvious connection to the figure of the Noble savage, both being regarded as living close to nature, uncorrupted by civilization, and virtuous.