Provenance

George K. Shoenberger

American, 1808 - 1892

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A young man sets out in a golden boat on a river that winds from the bottom right corner of this horizontal painting across a lush landscape and into the distance before disappearing beyond two rocky outcroppings far off to our right. Hazy in the distance, the jagged peaks of a barren red mountain rise into an almost cloudless blue sky. To our left, a semi-transparent, white palace looms above and beyond the mountain, filling most of the upper left quadrant of the composition. Hills and valleys leading from the mountain and palace are dotted with trees and carpeted with grass. A winged and haloed angel wearing a white robe stands on the bank of the river under a towering palm tree in the foreground, in the bottom right corner of the canvas. The angel has pale skin and long golden hair. One hand is lifted toward the palace or a young man in a boat in the river nearby. The small boat is angled away from the riverbank to our left and toward the palace. The boat is ornately decorated and at its bow, a winged, golden figure holds an hourglass aloft above her head. The young man has pale skin, shoulder-length brown hair, and he wears a red and gold tunic. A profusion of flowers and trees line the riverbank.
Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life: Youth, 1842, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1971.16.2

The Voyage of Life: Youth

Thomas Cole · 1842 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1971.16.2

Near a verdant riverbank against soaring, hazy cliffs, a nude, chubby baby sits in a golden boat on a bed of pink and white flowers in this horizontal painting. A winged angel wearing a white robe with a glowing starburst hovering overhead stands behind the child with one hand resting on the tiller of the boat. The angel and child both have pale skin and blond hair. The baby holds up handfuls of flowers and looks forward. The bow of the boat is angled to our right as it glides along the glassy surface of the river. The boat seems to be made of or carved to look like a mass of gold, winged angels clustered to make the vessel. They reach toward a single angel thrust forward from the bow, like a masthead, who holds up an hourglass. The boat has just emerged from a dark cave at the base of rocky, rose-pink cliffs that reach off the top left edge of the canvas. The jagged peaks become pale pink as they march into the distance. A spit of the lush riverbank fills the lower left corner of the composition; it and the far bank are dotted with white waterlilies and a profusion of yellow, blue, pink, purple, and red flowers. Celery and moss-green growth carpets the boulders on either side the cave mouth and the ground stretching beyond the riverbank. The growth becomes mauve-purple as it recedes to the horizon, which comes a third of the way up the composition and is lit by a golden glow. Petal-pink and gray clouds float among the cliff-tops against an otherwise pale blue sky. The artist dated and signed the lower left, “1842 T. Cole Rome.”
Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life: Childhood, 1842, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1971.16.1

The Voyage of Life: Childhood

Thomas Cole · 1842 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1971.16.1

A man looks up as he kneels with his hands clasped in prayer in a small golden boat on a river that rushes toward craggy rocks in this horizontal landscape painting. The man has pale skin, dark brown hair and beard, and he wears a crimson-red tunic. A winged figurehead at the front of the gold boat holds up an hourglass. The boat sails to our right, away from calm waters to the left toward whitewater rapids along the right edge of the composition. A ridge of tall, jagged, moss-covered rock lines the water’s edge to our left and another channels the water on the opposite side of the river. Closest to us, a barren, blasted tree twists up from the lower right corner. The river passes off the right edge of the canvas, and calm waters beyond extend into the distance. The horizon line comes just under halfway up the composition. Bands of golden yellow break through the deep mauve-pink sky near the horizon line to our right. Diagonal plum-purple streaks suggest falling rain in the distance. A white glow in the upper left corner emanates around a person with long, reddish-blond hair and pale skin, who looks down at the man in the boat. That person wears a white garment and a golden star shines at the forehead. Smudges of fog blue in the sky above the man first read as clouds but upon closer inspection, the cloud-like forms contain the faces of three bearded men.
Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life: Manhood, 1842, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1971.16.3

The Voyage of Life: Manhood

Thomas Cole · 1842 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1971.16.3

A balding, older man sits in a golden boat guided by a winged angel away from craggy rocks to calm waters, toward a shaft of light piercing a billowing bank of clouds in this horizontal landscape painting. The man and angel both have light skin. The man wears a crimson-red tunic and has a fringe of white curls and a long, white beard. He holds his hands up, palms facing out, as he looks toward the light in the upper left corner of the canvas. His golden boat is made up of wings and human bodies facing inward, the rudder and figurehead at the bow broken off. The man glides from low, jagged rocks in the lower right corner onto placid waters. Floating above the man and slightly to our left, the angel has long golden hair, a flowing white tunic, lilac-purple wings, and a bright starburst at the forehead. The angel gestures up to the shaft of light, where another angel has swept down into the cloud bank. Dozens of touches of white paint farther up in the clouds, closer to the light in the top left, suggest more angels descending toward the scene below. Concentric rings of clouds darken from butter yellow in the upper left to pale mauve and muted plum purple across the landscape. The artist signed the painting as if he had inscribed his name and date on a rock near the lower left, “T. Cole 1842.” A second inscription, to the right of center along the lower edge on another rock, reads “Rome.”
Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life: Old Age, 1842, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1971.16.4

The Voyage of Life: Old Age

Thomas Cole · 1842 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1971.16.4

Bibliography

1904

  • Greve, Charles Theodore. Centennial History of Cincinnati and Representative Citizens. 2 vols. Chicago, 1904:2:288-289