Thomas Cole, best known for his work…

Thomas Cole, best known for his work as an American landscape artist, has spent the years 1829 to 1832 and 1841 to 1842 abroad, mainly in England and Italy.

Cole has also produced thousands of sketches of varying subject matter, of which over twenty-five hundred of these sketches can be seen today at The Detroit Institute of Arts.

In 1842, Cole had embarked on a Grand Tour of Europe in an effort to study in the style of the Old Masters and to paint its scenery.

Most striking to Cole is Europe's tallest active volcano, Mount Etna. (Regarding the title: "Etna" is the more common spelling in the present day, but "Aetna" was a common nineteenth-century variant.)

Cole is so moved by the volcano's beauty that he produces several sketches and at least six paintings of it.

The most famous of these works is A View from Mount Etna from Taormina.

Cole also produced a highly detailed sketch of it, entitled View of Mount Etna, which shows a panoramic view of the volcano with the crumbling walls of the ancient Greek theater of Taormina on the far right.