KANSAS CITY, MO.- The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art presents the work “The Old Mill at Sunset” (1844) by Thomas Cole. The museum recently acquired the work at the Alexander Gallery for an undisclosed amount thanks to the Ever Glades Fund for acquisitions of American art. Works by Cole have sold before for $650,000 to $1.5 million.

Margaret Conrads, the museum's Samuel Sosland Curator of American Art, said, “(The work) significantly raises the quality of our already fine mid-19th century landscape holdings…The dilemma for him and likeminded individuals was that they wanted the U.S. to be a pre-eminent power in the world, yet they understood it came at a cost.”

Thomas Cole is often called the "Father of the Hudson River School of Art." In 1826 he helped to found the National Academy of Design in New York City. In 1827 he made his first visit to the White Mountains. While best known for his allegorical paintings such as the Voyage of Life and the Course of Empire series, he did many White Mountain paintings including Flume in the White Mountains; View of Mount Washington; Mount Chocorua; Notch in the White Mountains; View Near Conway; and Mount Washington from the Upper Saco Intervale.