Day 2: The Voyage of Life—The Series and First Painting (Childhood)

Thomas Cole painted two sets of The Voyage of Life, the first in 1839–1840 and the second in 1842. The sets have only minor differences. (The reason for the second relates to legal controversy following the death of his original patron.)

The series follows the trajectory of one man’s journey on the river of life. Each of the four allegorical paintings depicts a season in the voyager’s life:

1.In Childhood, he enters a fertile world as a babe, full of innocent wonder.

2.In Youth, he charges ahead with confidence and ambition.

3.In Manhood, he cries out for deliverance amidst the turbulent waters of middle age.

4.In Old Age, he sails peacefully toward his eternal home at the end of his days.

Beyond addressing the state of adolescent America by highlighting the unforeseen, potentially destructive costs of Manifest Destiny (the 19th-century belief that the United States was destined to expand its reach across the continent), The Voyage of Life draws parallels to the Christian narrative of salvation and resurrection.

In each painting and stage of life, the voyager is guided by an angelic being whose presence he does not acknowledge until the final scene. This guardian angel faithfully accompanies the voyager through verdant hillsides and cragged cliffs, ultimately leading him to a vision of eternal life.

The Voyage of Life: Childhood
Thomas Cole 1842 Oil canvas
National Gallery of Art, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
https://www.nga.gov/artworks/52450-voyage-life-childhood

Painting #1: Childhood

The magisterial series of The Voyage of Life opens with Childhood. The scene contrasts the dark, mysterious unknown from whence we came with the rosy, blooming sunrise of new life.

Cole was perhaps the first to take on the monumental task of creating coherent visual images on the allegorical subject of journeying through the river of life. However, notable literary pieces have done so as well, such as John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.

Cole personally wrote an explanation for each painting in this series. About this first one, he noted the “narrow experience” of childhood—a stage characterized by joy and wonder.

The time before our birth is mysterious to us—symbolized in part by the dark cave from which the voyager (here, a laughing infant) emerges.

In this painting, the banks of the stream are laden with flowers and bathed in light.

Cole calls our attention to at least four key symbolic elements in this series opener:

1.The fullness of the mountain’s summit—unseen, just as our entrance into this world is shrouded in mystery.

2. An hourglass—located at the front of the boat, representing the passage of time (a central theme in all four paintings of the series). The hourglass is a great example of a memento mori—reminders that we are all going to die natural deaths. Other memento mori in art include skulls or flowers (fleeting in their beauty). Memento mori are also used in poetry, literature, and music.

3.The child—oblivious to the presence of the angel, who is guiding him at the tiller. Indeed, it isn’t until the final painting in the series, Old Age, that the voyager recognizes the guiding force in his life.

4.Natural beauty—which abounds in the scene, as evidenced in the blooms cascading from atop both boat and riverbank. A full and fertile world welcomes the child from a cave of chaos.