Thomas Cole was born February 1, 1801 and died in 1848, ten days after his 47th birthday. He founded a school called Hudson River School, which was known for its realistic paintings, like he himself was known best for. He works with oil paints, creating huge landscapes that are amazingly detailed down to the tiniest things. You could probably see individual leaves if you look close enough at the original paintings, not on computer images found on Google. In all, his work is beautiful, both to the eye and to the soul if you know what they are meant to represent.
The Oxbow
He made realistic images of American landscapes and wilderness, though they always seem to have a much deeper meaning that are almost poetic. Like this one, when I first saw it I thought it was amazing, but after someone explained its deeper question it got me wondering just what humans chose for our future. Notice one side is peaceful, sunny farmland while the other is dark, dangerous forest, overshadowed by a storm cloud. Will the storm spread over to the ideal American dream or will it stay on its side of the river, which is even shaped like a question mark.
Mount Etna from Taormina, Sicily
This was painted during his two visits to Italy, where he loved the view of the Etna mountain. This painting, like most of his others, has a foreground, middle ground and distance. Also typical to him, it all has some meaning. The foreground represents the past, and is shown with the ruins of the once great Greek theatre, Teatro Greco. The middle ground is the present, with huge cultivated fields in the valley. In the background is Mount Etna, which shows the eternity in the future.
The Titan’s Goblet
Not all his artwork has a clear message to the people who look at it. This one, for example, has a message that is open for a lot of debate over what exactly it is. Titan’s Goblet is possibly the most enigmatic of Cole’s artwork, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art says it “defies full explanation”. The goblet itself looks like it is part of the terrain it stands on, but the inhabitants live along its rim in a world all their own. Plants cover the entire brim, except where its broken by a Greek temple and an Italian palace.
The Voyage of Life – Childhood
The Voyage of Life is the art series meant to represent the stages of human life from birth to death. This first one, Childhood, shows all the influences and elements introduced to us as children, such as religion. The landscape is bright and colorful, full of life and beauty while the child is in a boat with a guiding angel. All the warmth and beauty most of see when we are little, it shows how this painting reflects the innocence and joy of childhood.
The Voyage of Life – Youth
The second painting, Youth, shows the same rich, green landscape. It would have been almost identical to the Childhood painting but now it has a much larger landscape. This is supposed to show how the child in the previous panting had lived longer and had more experiences with the world around them. In the distance, a castle hovers in the sky, a beacon that represents the ambitions and dreams of man.
The Voyage of Life – Manhood
In the next painting, Manhood, is when the child grows up and faces the trials of life. The paintings could not be more different. The boat is damaged and the river has become a terrible rush of white water with menacing rocks, dangerous whirlpools, and surging currents. The warm sunlight of youth has been clouded over with dark and stormy skies and torrential rains. The trees have become wind-beaten, gnarled, leafless trunks. The fresh grass is gone, replaced by hard and unforgiving rock.
Cole states, “Trouble is characteristic of the period of Manhood. In childhood, there is no carking care: in youth, no despairing thought. It is only when experience has taught us the realities of the world, that we lift from our eyes the golden veil of early life; that we feel deep and abiding sorrow: and in the Picture, the gloomy, eclipse-like tone, the conflicting elements, the trees riven by tempest, are the allegory; and the Ocean, dimly seen, figures the end of life, which the Voyager is now approaching.”
The Voyage of Life – Old Age
The final painting, Old Age, is an image of death.Like the names says, the man has grown old, having survived the trials of the last painting. The waters have calmed and now flow into the unknown waters of eternity. The landscape is practically gone, just a few rocks to show the edge of the earthly world, and dark water stretches onward. In the distance, angels are descending from heaven, while the guardian angel hovers close, gesturing toward the others. Cole describes the scene as “The chains of corporeal existence are falling away; and already the mind has glimpses of Immortal Life.”
Another art series: The Course of Empire
Evening in Arcadia
Lake Winnipiseogee
A View of the Mountain Pass Called the Notch of the White Mountains