“The Voyage of Life: Childhood”
This large-scale oil on canvas painting, titled “The Voyage of Life: Childhood”, was painted in 1842 by the English Hudson River School of Art artist, Thomas Cole. This is the first of four in a series called The Voyage of Life.
This series is one of Cole’s grand large-scale allegorical works in which he wanted to depict the four stages of human life: childhood, youth, manhood, and old age.
In this painting, Cole depicts a man, an archetypal hero, at the beginning of his voyage through life (throughout the series, life is symbolized as a river). Cole depicts the man as a child who was just born, emerging from a cave on a boat. Accompanied by his guardian angel, he is fearlessly approaching his destiny.
The landscape around him is the American landscape painted in the Hudson River School of Art style with a healthy dose of realism and romanticism. The landscape is overtly symbolic. Everything is lush and the sun is shining, which Cole meant as a reflection of the child’s innocence and joy at the fresh start of life.
The Voyage of Life series was well-received by critics and art fans in its day. America was going through a cultural shift in which religion was heavily revived, sometimes referred to as the Second Great Awakening, and Cole was a vocal Christian.
“The Voyage of Life: Childhood” is currently on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
For more on Thomas Cole, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
