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The Course of Empire: Destruction
Thomas Cole · Romanticism & Landscape
- Artist
- Thomas Cole (1801–1848)
- Date
- 1836
- Dimensions
- 100.3 x 161.3 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- New-York Historical Society, New York, United States
Destruction is the fourth of five paintings in Thomas Cole's series The Course of Empire, which traces the rise and fall of an imaginary civilisation in the same landscape, from savagery to glory and ruin.
A closer look
In this panel, the magnificent marble city built in the previous painting is sacked by invaders. Warriors set fire to temples and palaces, a bridge collapses under the fleeing crowd, women are seized, and ships burn in the harbour beneath a dark, stormy sky. A headless colossal statue strides forward in the foreground. The same distinctive mountain peak with a boulder on top appears in every picture of the series, showing that while civilisations come and go, nature endures. Cole intended the series as a warning to the young United States about the dangers of greed and empire.
