Answer :
Final answer:
Thomas Cole's The Oxbow is an iconic 1836 painting representing dual aspects of America's landscape: its wild, untouched nature and its cultivated pastoral areas. While Cole included a symbolic self-portrait in the painting, it was actually completed in his studio based on outdoor sketches.
Explanation:
Thomas Cole, a significant figure in nineteenth-century American art, painted The Oxbow in 1836. While he includes a self-portrait with an easel in the work, suggesting an en plein air painting process, it's imperative to know that this inclusion is symbolic. Cole actually completed his works in his studio, first sketching outdoors and then translating these observations onto canvas. The Oxbow, also known as View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm, is not merely a landscape; it embeds profound themes such as the contrast between the untamed wilderness and pastoral settlement. This duality reflects the American spirit during the time of Manifest Destiny, with its associated ideas of divine providence and territorial expansion. The painting, with its diagonal separation, represents the dual nature of America's landscape - pristine and cultivated - as well as an acknowledgment of its historical moment.
