The Tempter

Details

Thomas Cole (1801-1848)
The Tempter
oil on canvas
51 x 40¼ in. (129.5 x 102.2 cm.)
Painted in 1843.

Provenance

The artist.
Mrs. Florence H. Cole Vincent, Catskill, New York, granddaughter of the above, by descent.
Victor D. Spark, New York, 1961.
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 1963.

Literature

Knickerbocker Magazine, February 1844, pp. 195-96.
E.I. Seaver, Thomas Cole, 1801-1848, One Hundred Years Later, Hartford, Connecticut, 1948, p. 32.
The Art Quarterly, Autumn 1963, pp. 354, 361, illustrated.
L.L. Noble, The Life and Works of Thomas Cole, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1964, pp. 262-64 (as Angels Ministering to Christ in the Wilderness).
W.H. Gerdts, Jr., "Cole's Painting 'After the Temptation,'" The Baltimore Museum of Art Annual II: Studies on Thomas Cole, An American Romanticist, Baltimore, Maryland, 1967, pp. 102-03, 105-11, illustrated (as After the Temptation).
L. Dresser, "A Scriptural Subject by Thomas Cole: Two Sections Reunited," Worcester Art Museum News Bulletin and Calendar, February 1971, n.p.
University Art Museum, University of California, The Hand and the Spirit: Religious Art in America, 1700-1900, exhibition catalogue, Berkeley, California, 1973, p. 109, no. 48, illustrated.
S.K. Johnston, American Painting 1750-1900 from the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, 1983, pp. 37-38, illustrated.
E.C. Parry III, The Art of Thomas Cole: Ambition and Imagination, London, 1988, pp. 282-84, illustrated.
W.H. Truettner, A. Wallach, eds., Thomas Cole: Landscape into History, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 1994, p. 47, no. 50, illustrated.

Exhibited

Boston, Massachusetts, Boston Artists Association, 1843 (as Angels Ministering to Christ in the Wilderness, prior to being cut down).
New York, National Academy of Design, Cole Exhibition, December 1843-March 1844 (as Angels Ministering to Christ in the Wilderness, prior to being cut down).
Albany, New York, Albany Institute of History and Art, Thomas Cole, 1801-1845, November 1-December 15, 1941, no. 3.
Baltimore, Maryland, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Thomas Cole, Paintings by an American Romanticist, January 26-February 28, 1965, no. 21.
Worcester, Massachusetts, Worcester Art Museum, A Scriptural Subject by Thomas Cole: Two Sections Reunited, January 3, 1970-March 1, 1971.
Berkeley, California, University of California, University Art Museum, and elsewhere, The Hand and the Spirit: Religious Art in America, 1700-1900, June 27, 1972-April 30, 1973, no. 48.

Lot Essay

The present work was originally part of a larger composition estimated to be approximately 72 x 96 inches. According to Mrs. Florence H. Cole Vincent, the painting may have been cut down by the artist late in life or by another hand soon after his death. In her 1948 exhibition catalogue of Cole's work, Edith Seaver suggests the canvas was cut down in order to install the work in the Cole house in Catskill, New York. The remaining portion of the painting, entitled The Angels Ministering to Christ in the Wilderness, is in the collection of the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts.

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