the voyage of life thomas cole

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Thomas cole’s voyage of life.

October 21, 2014 — January 18, 2015

Past Exhibition

The Hudson River School master Thomas Cole takes over the Chrysler Museum’s newly expanded American art galleries for a very special exhibition of his largest and finest works. Its centerpiece is Cole’s iconic series  The Voyage of Life  (1839–40), the pinnacle of his career and a landmark in Romantic landscape painting.

Spanning four monumental canvases,  The Voyage of Life  takes viewers on a journey through  Childhood, Youth, Manhood,  and  Old Age , presenting each stage as progress along a grand but treacherous river.

These masterpieces from the collection of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, N.Y., are rarely loaned to other museums, and they embark on this historic tour together with many of the artist’s seldom-exhibited original drawings and preliminary studies. The Chrysler’s own Thomas Cole painting,  The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds , the largest single canvas he ever created, joins this extraordinary tribute to one of the founding fathers of American art.

For more information, here’s a story from  ArtFixDaily.com .

On view right now

IDEAL, Intentional Designs of Expression in Artistic Languages Exhibition Details

Early Days: Indigenous Art from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection Exhibition Details

Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life

Cole’s extraordinary series chronicles each stage of human life: childhood, youth, manhood, and old age.

Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life ( Childhood , Youth , Manhood , Old Age ), 1842, oil on canvas, Childhood 134.3 x 195.3 cm; Youth 134.3 x 194.9 cm; Manhood 134.3 x 202.6 cm; Old Age 133.4 x 196.2 cm, original commission by Samuel Ward dates to 1839–40; those canvases are now in the Munson-Williams-Proctor-Arts-Institute in Utica, NY; the set at the National Gallery of Art is a copy made by the artist in Europe after tracings of the original so that Cole could publicly display the paintings and sell engravings from the set (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.). Speakers: Dr. Bryan Zygmont and Dr. Steven Zucker

Bibliography

Childhood , Youth , Manhood , and Old Age at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Thomas Cole on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

William H. Truettner and Alan Wallach, editors, Thomas Cole: Landscape into History , exhibition catalogue (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994).

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The Voyage Of Life: Childhood (1842) by Thomas Cole

Artwork Information

About the voyage of life: childhood.

Thomas Cole’s The Voyage of Life is a series of four paintings that represents the journey of human life. Childhood is the first painting in the series, completed by Cole in 1842. The painting portrays an idealistic world where a boat travels down a river amidst stunning landscapes that change to reflect each season and stage of life.

The painting features a guardian angel who accompanies the voyager on their journey through life, guiding them through various challenges when they need it most. This representation serves as an allegory for the four stages of man: childhood, youth, manhood, and old age. Childhood marks the beginning of this journey, as represented by the ever-flowing river, symbolizing time passing by.

Cole masterfully depicts an idyllic world typical snapshot representing childhood with vibrant colors portraying hope and innocence without any indication whatsoever on how challenging being young can be. The painting’s significant focus is on the boat travelling downriver, emphasising one’s lack of control over life events while relying heavily on external factors such as family or education(like having someone navigating your boat).

In conclusion, Thomas Cole’s Childhood creates a sentimental narrative to highlight how childhood is fleeting past quite fast and sets up future installments that further explore themes such as mortality or loss later in life for people who get to reach those stages.

Other Artwork from Thomas Cole

The Course of Empire Desolation (1836) by Thomas Cole

Genesee Scenery (1847) by Thomas Cole

Schroon Mountain, Adirondacks (1838) by Thomas Cole

View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm (The Oxbow) (1836) by Thomas Cole

View on the Catskill – Early Autumn (1837) by Thomas Cole

Mount Aetna From Taormina (1844) by Thomas Cole

More artwork from artchive.

The Servant Girl (la Jeune Bonne) (c. 1918) by Amedeo Modigliani

Girl With A Polka-dot Blouse (1919) by Amedeo Modigliani

The Joy Of Life (Sketch) (1905 – 1906) by Henri Matisse

Nuremberg (1982) by Anselm Kiefer

Still Life with Violin and Fruit (1912) by Pablo Picasso

A Bigger Splash (1967) by David Hockney

Mother I, Yorkshire Moors, August 1985 #1 (1985) by David Hockney

Vue De Collioure (c.1906) by Henri Matisse

Free Fall (1988-91) by Sidney Goodman

Girl Seated (1909) by Henri Matisse

Georges Seurat – Biography and Artwork of the French Painter

Duchess of Alba DETAIL of face (1797) by Francisco Goya

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Study for The Voyage of Life Youth

Thomas cole 1839, albany institute of history & art albany, united states.

After completing his first series of monumental paintings, The Course of Empire, Thomas Cole settled on an equally challenging sequel. The painting series The Voyage of Life—for which this is a small oil study—uses a stream and a voyager as metaphors for the course of human life. When still conceptualizing the work, Cole wrote that the "youth"� segment would show "The child become a youth is seen in the boat—the river has increased & the scene become extensive and grand—the guardian just stepping out of the boar & pointing forward—leaving the youth to his own reason for guide."� The finished series of paintings is in the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute i n Uti ca, NY, and a replica set by Cole is in the National Gallery of Art i n Washington, DC. This work is part of th e Alba ny Institute's premier collection of more than 500 works by Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River school of painting.

• Title: Study for The Voyage of Life Youth
• Creator: Thomas Cole (1801-1848)
• Date Created: 1839
• Physical Dimensions: 12 1/16 H x 13 3/4 W
• Rights: Albany Institute of History & Art Purchase
• External Link: http://www.albanyinstitute.org/details/items/study-for-the-voyage-of-life-youth.html
• Medium: Oil on wood panel
• Provenance: Descendants of the artist to Mrs. Fletcher Williams, Newark, NJ (by 1902), at MacBeth Gallery, New York (1902-1919), sold at American Art Association, New York (April 16, 1919), with Brooklyn Contemporary Art Gallery in 1942, purchased by AIHA from Henry L. Maloney, former director of the Brooklyn Contemporary Art Gallery, September 22, 1942
• Painter: Thomas Cole (1801-1848)
• Inscription: Remnants of paper label, reverse right side, inscribed: paintings by [?]/450 Fif[?]/W[?]rom[?]

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Category : The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole

Subcategories.

This category has the following 2 subcategories, out of 2 total.

• The Voyage of Life (Four Sketches) by Thomas Cole ‎ (9 F)
• The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole (Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute) ‎ (4 F)

Media in category "The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole"

The following 24 files are in this category, out of 24 total.

• Paintings by Thomas Cole in the National Gallery of Art
• Paintings by Thomas Cole by title
• 1840s allegorical paintings
• 1842 paintings in the United States
• 1842 landscape paintings
• 19th-century paintings of angels
• 19th-century paintings of rivers
• Human life cycle
• People with boats in art
• Rocks in art
• Time in art
• Uses of Wikidata Infobox

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Explore Thomas Cole

• Interactive Tour
• Virtual Gallery
• Cole's Landscapes
• Definitions
• Cole's Circle

Back to Tour Intro

• Falls of the Kaaterskill
• The Clove, Catskills
• The Course of Empire: The Savage State
• The Course of Empire: The Arcadian or Pastoral State
• The Course of Empire: The Consummation of Empire
• The Course of Empire: Destruction
• The Course of Empire: Desolation
• View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, After A Thunderstorm (The Oxbow)
• View on the Catskill, Early Autumn

The Voyage of Life: Childhood (First Set)

• The Voyage of Life: Youth (First Set)
• The Voyage of Life: Manhood (First Set)
• The Voyage of Life: Old Age (First Set)
• The Architect's Dream
• Mount Etna From Taormina, Sicily
• A View of the Two Lakes and Mountain House, Catskill Mountains, Morning
• Kindred Spirits

Thomas Cole. Oil on canvas, 1839-40, 52 x 78 in. Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY, 55.105.

About the Series:

The voyage of life.

• zoom & Pan
• Cole's process
• Cole's words

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The Voyage of Life - Manhood

• Thomas Cole

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The Voyage of Life - Manhood is a series of painting completed by Thomas Cole in 1842. The painting represents an allegory of four stages of life that every human being goes through. Other paintings forming this allegory represented childhood , youth , and old age .

Thomas was passionate about advancing the landscape painting in a manner that depicted universal truths about life and existence of human beings in relation to religious faith and nature. In 1836, Cole conceived the idea of painting an allegory of portraits that reflected his ambition. Many sources claim that Cole was inspired by existing traditional allegories from older painters like John Bunyan's allegory of Pilgrim's Process.

Cole's process to paint his Voyage of Life series started in 1839 in his old studio located at Cedar Grove-Catskill, New York. Cole commenced his work following a laborious process that characterized the art-making profession in the nineteenth century. Cole sourced some of his materials from Edward Dechaux in New York City. Cole used oil and canvas as the primary medium and used a common technique of mixing oil and solid colours to create an image of stable landscape features. The art industry was facing technological transformations at the time where some art materials began to be delivered while already stretched, including pre-prepared canvases. However, Cole was not contented with the already-processed canvases and premixed colours, claiming that the quality was being compromised.

Thomas Cole was a religious person who intended to use his talent to depict nature and stages of life. In his paintings Cole uses a river flowing through every canvas to represent the twists and turns of everyman's life. Every painting depicts different time and season to represent different stages of life. Just like in many poems written by Cole, the Manhood painting shows the idea of the passing of time and the concept of irreversible aging. The idea of mortality is seen to have disturbed Cole and dictated his personality from a comparatively early age.

Cole finished his series of allegory of life in the mid-1850s and started travelling across the world, showcasing them. All the four paintings were widely available in America for public exhibition. The moral message accompanying these paintings was appealing to the public, and many Americans hung the reproductions of these paintings in their parlours. Due to this wide publicity, Cole's lessons and teachings on life and religion were passed on to future generations.

Cole's work attracted many rich religious citizens in America. One such person was a wealthy and deeply entrenched religious banker, Samuel Ward. Ward offered Cole $5,000 to acquire the complete allegory of Voyage of Life. Ward had a personal art gallery where he wanted to display the paintings with an aim to educate visitors and his children on morality. Unfortunately, Ward died before the allegory paintings were completed. Heartbroken and yet determined, Cole continued with his series to completion. The painting of Manhood has been owned by the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C since 1971.

Article Author

Tom Gurney in an art history expert. He received a BSc (Hons) degree from Salford University, UK, and has also studied famous artists and art movements for over 20 years. Tom has also published a number of books related to art history and continues to contribute to a number of different art websites. You can read more on Tom Gurney here.

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