Thomas Cole

Thomas Cole (February 1, 1801 – February 11, 1848) is the first significant American landscape painter. He perfectly encapsulates the ideals of what America strived towards in it's inception, the hope the "New World" held. In looking back at history, at the human narrative, he was able to hold a position which far exceeded his time. His works serve not only as a critique of industrialism, urbanism, expansionism, liberalism, and the loss of historical meaning, but as a beacon of hope which lies beyond, of the enduring will of humanity, and the beauty inherent in our truth.

Note the basis of mimetic tides for the next 200 years

Expulsion from the Garden of Eden

Prometheus Bound

The Voyage of Life

The Voyage of Life is a series of four paintings created by the American artist Thomas Cole in 1840 The paintings, Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age, depict a voyager who travels in a boat on the River of Life, accompanied by a guardian angel. The landscapes in each instillment, are reflections of the four seasons of the year, with the boat's direction of travel reversed from the previous.

In Childhood, the infant glides from a dark cave into a rich, green landscape.

In Youth, the boy takes control of the boat and aims for a shining castle in the sky.

In Manhood, the adult relies on prayer and religious faith to sustain him through rough waters and a threatening landscape.

In Old Age, finally the man allows his angel to guide him across the waters of eternity.

The Course of Empire

Starting in 1833 Thomas Cole spent 3 years creating The Course of Empire, a series of five paintings describing the arc of human culture from 'savage wilderness' through high civilization and its inevitable destruction. The 1830s were an optimistic time in America, Industrialization was in full swing. The Erie canal had been completed, and the first US locomotive was making its first trips. Thomas Cole's Course of Empire was a warning against the pride of empire building, and showcased the dreamy idealization of the pastoral life. In newspaper advertisements for his series, Cole quoted Canto IV of Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage:

There is one moral of all human stories; Only the same rehearsal of the past.
First freedom and then Glory – when that fails,
Wealth, vice, corruption – barbarism at last.
And History, with volumes vast,
Has but one page...

Note: Rephrased for modern reading.

The Savage State, or The Commencement of Empire

The Arcadian or Pastoral State

The Consummation of Empire

Destruction

Desolation