The Oxbow
| The Oxbow | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Collection | Redacted Remilio Babies |
| Category | Background |
| References | View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow (Thomas Cole, 1836) |
| Count | 91 |
| Rarity | 0.91% |
The Oxbow is a background trait in the Redacted Remilio Babies NFT collection, based on View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm, an 1836 painting by Thomas Cole commonly known as The Oxbow.
Background
The Oxbow is an oil painting by Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School of American landscape painting, depicting a panoramic view of the Connecticut River Valley as seen from Mount Holyoke in Hadley, Massachusetts.[1] The painting takes its popular name from the U-shaped bend, or oxbow, formed by the river in the valley below. Cole painted the work for the 1836 annual exhibition of the National Academy of Design, pausing work on his more ambitious series The Course of Empire to produce it.
The composition is divided diagonally: the left side depicts a storm-darkened wilderness of shattered trees, while the right side opens onto a sunlit, cultivated valley of farmland, marking a contrast between untamed nature and the encroachment of agricultural settlement. Cole included a small self-portrait at the lower center of the canvas, shown pausing from his sketching to look back at the viewer. The painting is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is considered one of the defining works of 19th-century American landscape painting, frequently cited in discussions of the Hudson River School and American attitudes toward westward expansion and the wilderness.
See also
References
- ↑ "View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2025-12-01.