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Label TextThomas Cole, a founder of American landscape painting, was increasingly religious in his later years, imbuing his paintings with Christian iconography and expressing spiritual themes. The Good Shepherd is Cole’s visual expression of the Biblical verse from Psalms 23, “The Lord is my shepherd.” A young shepherd leads a stray sheep “beside still waters” toward the flock bathed in warm sunlight. The lushness of the landscape conveys the idea that the Good Shepherd—the Lord—will provide for and protect his people.
The Good Shepherd
Artist
Thomas Cole
(1801 - 1848)
Date1848
Dimensions32 × 48 in. (81.3 × 121.9 cm)
Framed: 44 3/4 × 60 7/8 × 5 1/2 in.
Framed: 44 3/4 × 60 7/8 × 5 1/2 in.
MediumOil on canvas
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2007.10
Signedl.l.: T. Cole / 1848
Status
On viewAccession number
2007.10
ProvenanceIsabella Williamson Lee (b. 1800), New York, NY, 1848; by descent until 1983; to (Sotheby's, New York, NY), December 12, 1983; purchased by Gloria and Richard Manney, New York, NY; to (Sotheby's, New York, NY), May 27, 1993; purchased by Private Collection, New Fairfield, CT; Private Collection; (Michael Altman Fine Art & Advisory Services, New York, NY), 2007; purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2007Label TextThomas Cole, a founder of American landscape painting, was increasingly religious in his later years, imbuing his paintings with Christian iconography and expressing spiritual themes. The Good Shepherd is Cole’s visual expression of the Biblical verse from Psalms 23, “The Lord is my shepherd.” A young shepherd leads a stray sheep “beside still waters” toward the flock bathed in warm sunlight. The lushness of the landscape conveys the idea that the Good Shepherd—the Lord—will provide for and protect his people.