The Course of Empire is a series of five paintings created by the English-born American painter Thomas Cole between 1833 and 1836, and now in the collection of the New York Historical. The series depi
Portrait of Thomas Cole by Asher B. Durand, 1837
Cole's 1833 sketch for the arrangement of the paintings around Reed's fireplace: the sketch also shows above the paintings three aspects of the sun: left (rising); center (zenith); right (setting)
The Savage State. Oil on canvas, 1834, 39 ½ × 63 ½ in.
The Arcadian or Pastoral State. Oil on canvas, 1834, 39 ½ × 63 ½ in.
Arcadia (utopia)
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Arcadia refers to a vision of the pastoral and harmony with nature. The term is derived from the Greek province of the same name which dates to antiquity; the province's mountainous topography and spa
The Course of Empire (paintings)
…empire is asserted, although to a limited degree, over sea, land, and the animal kingdom. The season represented is Spring. In the second painting, The Arcadian or Pastoral State, the sky has cleared and it is the fresh morning of a day in spring or summer. The viewpoint has shifted further up the river, as the…
Urpo Tikka's etching Afternoon at Arcadia, 1995
Friedrich August von Kaulbach's In Arcadia
Thomas Eakins's Arcadia