The Course of Empire: Destruction

Cole painted The Course of Empire: Destruction in 1836, as the fourth in a series of five paintings depicting the rise and fall of an imaginary civilization. He was 35 years old and had been painting for over a decade, producing the landscapes of the American wilderness that had established him as the founder of the Hudson River School. The Course of Empire is his most ambitious work, a moral allegory about the cycle of civilization and the consequences of hubris. The painting shows the destruction of a great city, with armies attacking from the sea and the land. The city is in flames, with buildings collapsing and statues toppling from their pedestals. Soldiers fight in the streets, and civilians flee in terror. The harbor is filled with burning ships, and the sky is dark with smoke. The scene is chaotic and violent, with every part of the canvas filled with destruction and despair. The Course of Empire series was inspired by the writings of the British historian Edward Gibbon, whose Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire had been published in the 1770s. Cole painted the series over three years, from 1833 to 1836, and it was exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1836 to enormous critical acclaim. The five paintings depict the same landscape at different stages of civilization: The Savage State, The Arcadian or Pastoral State, The Consummation, Destruction, and Desolation. Destruction is the most dramatic of the five paintings, and it is the one that most directly addresses Cole's moral concerns. Cole was worried about the rapid industrialization of America and the destruction of the wilderness that he had spent his career painting. The Course of Empire was a warning about the consequences of unchecked ambition, and Destruction was the painting where the consequences were most visible. Oil on canvas, 101 by 161 centimeters. Cole painted with a combination of precise drawing and dramatic brushwork, building the city in layers of warm stone tone. The flames are painted in thick, opaque strokes of orange and yellow, which stand out against the dark sky. The soldiers are painted in small, quick strokes of red and gold, with their movements suggested by the direction of the brushwork. The smoke is painted in thin, translucent layers of gray and brown, which blur the background and give the painting its chaotic, claustrophobic quality. The surface has the rich, worked quality of a painting built over many sessions. The horizontal format and dramatic palette make this print work well in a living room, dining room, or office. The warm oranges, reds, and dark browns pair with dark wood, white walls, and rooms with a dramatic or serious mood. The 18x24 size is the best choice, as the composition needs width to read. The painting has a powerful, tragic quality that commands attention in any room. This is a public domain artwork from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 18x24 inches, framed or unframed.