{
 "schema": "nephos.method.v1",
 "slug": "cole-kaaterskill-falls-1826",
 "title": "Thomas Cole, Kaaterskill Falls (1826), Wadsworth 1848.15",
 "urls": [
  "/studies/cole-kaaterskill-falls-1826"
 ],
 "written": {
  "summary": "First encounter in 1825, a return to the Catskills and Lake George in 1826, then a studio painting for Daniel Wadsworth. Noble says autumn for the first trip; the Met chronology says summer. The 1826 return, approximately 6 May–6 July, is the weather window.",
  "items": [
   {
    "quote": "for the last month or two",
    "source": "Cole to Daniel Wadsworth, 6 July 1826, transcribed in Shannon Vittoria’s chronology, Thomas Cole’s Journey (Met, 2018), p. 248; note 7 cites Watkinson and McNulty, p. 1.",
    "url": "https://cdn.sanity.io/files/cctd4ker/production/be901737ad5f92e33d91db53c6dd8ce6ed47ff27.pdf"
   },
   {
    "quote": "I cannot paint a view twice and do justice to it.",
    "source": "Cole to Daniel Wadsworth, 20 November 1826, quoted by Michael Gaudio, Art History 33:3 (2010), p. 451 and note 8, p. 464 (McNulty, p. 4).",
    "url": "https://clarkartkentico.blob.core.windows.net/clarkart-kentico-media-prod/clarkart/media/pdfs/2021/gaudiothomascoleessay.pdf"
   }
  ]
 },
 "records": [
  {
   "name": "Albany Academy rainfall, published by Hough in 1855",
   "detail": "Whole-month rainfall for May and June, 1826–1849; manually transcribed from the scans. Regional Hudson-valley evidence.",
   "url": "https://archive.org/download/cu31924000010268/page/n29_w2000.jpg"
  },
  {
   "name": "Watervliet Arsenal daily thermometer, NOAA/CDMP and MRCC",
   "detail": "65.4 km from the falls. All 186 readings at 07/14/21 h survive in the 62 days, 6 May–6 July 1826. Twelve complete unflagged windows between 1826 and 1840 qualify for comparison.",
   "url": "https://mrcc.purdue.edu/files/FORTS/Data/DAILYBYSTATE/NY_Watervliet_Arsenal.data.csv"
  },
  {
   "name": "Cole’s letters and the Met chronology",
   "detail": "Published transcriptions of the letters dated 6 July and 20 November 1826; the original manuscripts were not inspected.",
   "url": "https://cdn.sanity.io/files/cctd4ker/production/be901737ad5f92e33d91db53c6dd8ce6ed47ff27.pdf"
  }
 ],
 "gaps": [
  "The exact dates of either visit to the falls are unknown. The July letter also covers Lake George.",
  "No verified rainfall amount or flow measurement at the falls has been established. Albany’s calendar months cannot supply rainfall for the exact visit envelope.",
  "The 1825 trip’s season is disputed. Watervliet begins in August, and September 1825 needs checking; no 1825 weather figures are published."
 ],
 "tests": [
  {
   "claim": "Was the spring and early summer of the return wet or dry?",
   "result": "At Albany, May 1826 had 0.76 inches, driest of 24 Mays (1826–1849); June had 6.22 inches, fourth wettest of 24 Junes. The regional record changes between months. Rainfall and discharge at the falls remain unknown."
  },
  {
   "claim": "Temperature as context for the return journey.",
   "result": "The fixed-hour mean at Watervliet was 69.5 °F, second warmest of 12 accepted windows. Temperature does not establish the falls’ flow."
  },
  {
   "claim": "Can the painted torrent be tied to a weather event?",
   "result": "No. The canvas repeats an earlier view, with renewed sketching associated with 1826, and no painted day or exact falls visit is documented."
  }
 ],
 "finding": "A dry May followed by a wet June at Albany, during a warm return season at Watervliet. These regional records put Cole’s travels in context; the water at Kaaterskill Falls and the day in the canvas remain unknown.",
 "verdicts": [
  {
   "claim": "Water at the falls during Cole’s return",
   "verdict": "Unknown",
   "reason": "Regional monthly rain is measurable; catchment rainfall, visit dates and discharge are not established."
  },
  {
   "claim": "A painted day in 1826",
   "verdict": "Unknown",
   "reason": "A studio picture, repeating the 1825 view; no document fixes the depicted weather to a day."
  }
 ],
 "limits": [
  "The canvas’s autumn colours differ from the May–early July 1826 return; the records cannot decide whether they recall the 1825 trip described by Noble or are a pictorial choice.",
  "May includes 1–5 May before the approximate window; June is wholly inside it. No total for 1–6 July has been established.",
  "Rainfall ranks describe Hough’s published table. Historical gauge practice changed; this is not a homogenized modern series.",
  "Greenville’s nearer 1826 register has unresolved gauge figures and fractional rain-day counts; no rainfall amount is used.",
  "Watervliet ranks use 1826, 1827, 1828, 1830, 1831, 1833, 1835, 1836, 1837, 1838, 1839 and 1840. The other three windows have missing or flagged readings."
 ]
}