Cole's The Course of Empire
The Course of Empire shows one valley over centuries, as a city rises on its shore, reaches its height and falls back into ruin, in five paintings.
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About the series
Thomas Cole painted the series between 1833 and 1836 for Luman Reed, a New York merchant who built a picture gallery in his house. The same crag with a balanced boulder on top appears in every painting, so you can follow the one place through time.
The Savage State opens with hunters at dawn. The Arcadian or Pastoral State has shepherds and a stone circle under a calm morning sky. The Consummation, the largest, is a marble city at noon full of a triumphal procession. Destruction shows it sacked and burning in a storm, and Desolation returns to the empty ruins at dusk, a column overgrown with vines. The set belongs to the New-York Historical Society.
The Consummation is the most detailed and holds a room by itself. The quiet first and last paintings make an unusual pair.
