The Course of Empire Destruction

The Course of Empire is a five-part series of paintings created by Thomas Cole in the years 1833-36. It is notable in part for reflecting popular American sentiments of the times, when many saw pastoralism as the ideal phase of human civilization, fearing that empire would lead to gluttony and inevitable decay.

These Thomas Cole Course of Empire paintings are now housed at the New-York Historical Society, and comprise the following works:
The Course of Empire - The Savage State; The Course of Empire - The Arcadian or Pastoral State; The Course of Empire - The Consummation; The Course of Empire - Destruction; and The Course of Empire - Desolation.
The series of Thomas Cole paintings depicts the growth and fall of an imaginary city, situated on the lower end of a river valley, near its meeting with a bay of the sea. The valley is distinctly identifiable in each of the paintings, in part because of an unusual landmark: a large boulder is precariously situated atop a crag overlooking the valley.

A direct source of literary inspiration for The Course of Empire is Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.

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