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signed T. Cole, l.c. oil on canvas 14 by 17 1/4 in.35.6 by 43.8 cm. In 1825, Cole made his first extended journey through the Hudson River Valley. The picturesque landscapes of the region he produced on this trip gained him the reputation as the founding father of the Hudson River School. The unexplored wilderness, primitive forests and rugged mountains remained a favorite subject throughout his career. According to Ellwood Parry, III: "The present work was painted circa 1845-47. The clump of framing trees in the left foreground, besides reminding us that Cole was once referred to as "our American Claude" and applauded for producing paintings "in his peculiar autumn style,' also relates this image to The Pic-Nic of 1846 (The Brooklyn Museum, 44 7/8 by 71 7/8 inches). But where that much larger painting comprises a family group portrait, the solitary Indian in this picture relates more directly still to the staffage detail of American Lake Scene, 1944 (The Detroit Institute of Arts, 18 1/4 by 24 1/2 inches), a more open composition than Indian at Sunset. Furthermore, there is still another image worth mentioning here because it contains a solitary Indian, semi-recumbent on a rocky promontory in the foreground, who also stares off into the sunny vastness of the picture space, which is centrally anchored by the setting sun on the low horizon in the far distance. The picture in question (Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina, 18 by 24 inches) used to be called Cove in Incopaco Lake, New York, but it, like the present work, is clearly not a topographical view. "Lastly, two additional features of this work help to secure the date. First of all, the blasted tree trunk, which leans dramatically to the right just behind the Indian figure, is analogous to a number of drawings and paintings Cole was doing in 1845-46. His studies for Prometheus, for example, have a jumble of such tree trunks, all kept very low while gesturing sideways. And secondly, the towering cloud formation in the distance (with a hint of thinner cloud strata of another color beginning to circle the larger mass like an incomplete halo) is another tell-tale element. A similar formation (albeit reversed) occurs in Cole's late Unfinished Landscape (Study of Clouds) (Merriam Collection, Philadelphia, 48 by 72 inches), which I tend to date as circa 1846-1847. Recently, a drawing with another version of the same clouds with vaporous halo has come to my attention which, again, must be dated circa1846-47 (Currier Fine Art, Brockton, Massachusetts). "Given the similarities to the Detroit American Lake Scene and the Mint Museum's version, both of which measure 18 by 24 inches, I would say that this idea of a North American Indian, quietly contemplating the extraordinary beauty of the North American wilderness at the close of a perfect autumn afternoon was a theme that Cole loved profoundly. It is also clear from these three surviving examples as variations on the same idea that the artist also enjoyed sharing this vision of land untouched by agricultural interests or industrial development with a number of eager clients who wanted to own a Thomas Cole, even if they could not afford or lacked the wall space to hang one or more of his larger, historical landscape compositions.".