Thomas Cole was born in Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire, England and immigrated with his parents to Philadelphia . Cole remained in Philadelphia, working as an engraver's assistant. In 1823, he drew from casts and old master and American landscape paintings while studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In April 1825, He moved to New York City, and in late summer took his first sketching trip up the Hudson to the Catskills. From then until his death, he traveled and lived in New York State and New England. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1834. Cole is generally regarded as the first great American landscape painter and as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century,landcape paintings that were concerned with the realistic and detailed portrayal of nature.