DID you know that the greatest American landscape artist of his generation was actually from Bolton?

Not many people do, but London’s National Gallery is hoping to put that right with the first UK exhibition dedicated to the work of Thomas Cole.

Born in Bolton in 1801, Cole was a self-taught artist and his career was shaped by his formative years labouring in the town’s textile mills.

When he was 17, he emigrated with his family to Philadelphia, America, and then settled in Steubenville, Ohio, where his reputation as an artist quickly grew.

He became famous for his romantic landscape and history paintings and by the time he was in his twenties, Cole was made a fellow of the National Academy.

On one trip back to his native England, Cole net the famous artists JMW Turner and John Constable.

He found Turner scruffy and disliked his chaotic workshop, but struck up a friendship with Constable.

Cole died in 1848 and his studio in Catskill, New York, is now a National Historic Site.

The exhibition, Thomas Cole: Eden to Empire, has already gained rave reviews from national critics.

Christopher Riopelle, The Neil Westreich Curator of Post-1800 Painting at the National Gallery, said: “Cole is not as well known here as in America, where his works are hugely admired. The story this exhibition tells, however, is a fascinating and novel lesson in international artistic exchange.”

Known for epic vistas, dramatic natural settings, and imaginative landscapes, Cole’s work depicts nature at its most powerful and vulnerable.

“His paintings glory in the unique terrain of the American Northeast – largely still unspoiled in his time - while serving as a cautionary tale about the use of natural resources in an increasingly industrial age.

The exhibition includes 58 works and includes Cole’s iconic painting cycle, The Course of Empire, and the masterpiece that secured his career and reputation – and which has never been seen in the UK before - View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm - The Oxbow.

The Course of Empire depicts the rise and fall of an imaginary civilisation in an ancient style but was intended to highlight the dangers of politics and commerce.

The Oxbow’ was a challenge to the American public to consider its place in the natural world, and to keep in check the seemingly inevitable drive toward destruction.

Dr Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery, said: “Thomas Cole’s passionate engagement with the landscape of the recently established United States marks a new beginning in American painting.

“Cole depicted the unspoilt beauty of the American landscape but he also prophesied the dangers of an encroaching urban and industrialised society on it. His concerns remain highly topical today.”

The exhibition, which has been organised by the National Gallery, London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, runs until October 7th. Email: information@ng-london.org.uk