The Course of Empire
Quick Summary
"The Course of Empire" is a series of five allegorical oil paintings created by American Romantic landscape painter Thomas Cole in 1836. The series charts the rise and decline of an imaginary empire, exploring the cyclical nature of civilizations and the tension between nature and human progress.
One painting in the series, The Course of Empire: Destruction, depicts a city in ruins, consumed by war and natural disaster. It features a colossal statue of a conqueror overlooking the destruction, with burning buildings and a collapsing bridge. Cole uses ancient Roman architectural styles to evoke the fall of that empire, suggesting a parallel with the potential arrogance and decadence he saw in modern America, especially in the context of the Industrial Revolution and recent revolutions. The dramatic skies and smoke in the painting show the influence of J.M.W. Turner.12
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