Thomas Cole, a founder of American landscape painting, was increasingly religious in his later years, imbuing his paintings with Christian iconography and expressing spiritual themes. The Good Shepherd is Cole’s visual expression of the Biblical verse from Psalms 23, “The Lord is my shepherd.” A young shepherd leads a stray sheep “beside still waters” toward the flock bathed in warm sunlight. The lushness of the landscape conveys the idea that the Good Shepherd—the Lord—will provide for and protect his people

4 in x 6 in