Sunday Salons - David Bjelajac: Thomas Cole, Freemasonry and the American Hercules March 6, 2011

Thomas Cole became a Freemason in Zanesville, Ohio, during the summer of 1822, and soon composed sublime mountainous views that drew upon Masonry's mysterious emblems. First publicized in New York newspapers by William Dunlap, a brother Mason, Cole's paintings captured the patronage of the Empire State's Masonic elite. David Bjelajac, Professor of Art and Human Sciences at George Washington University, reinterprets Cole's 'The Titan's Goblet' (1833), which honored New York Governor De Witt Clinton, Erie Canal builder, art academician and leading Freemason. This small, enigmatic painting draws upon Masonic ritual and Herculean myth and looks forward to Cole's famed 'Course of Empire' and 'Voyage of Life' series.