Day 3: The Voyage of Life—Youth

The Voyage of Life: Youth
Thomas Cole, 1842 Oil on canvas Source: National Gallery of Art
Credit: Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
https://www.nga.gov/artworks/52451-voyage-life-youth

The second painting in The Voyage of Life series highlights the aspiration of adolescents for fame and glory, a stage of life when people are full of vitality and tend to believe themselves to be invincible.

Like Childhood, Youth reveals a scene of luxuriant natural beauty. The river is lined with lush foliage. The characteristic emotions of this stage of life are hope and ambition.

Again, the voyager does not see or heed his angelic guide, who is now bidding him adieu. At the rudder, the youth’s attention is fixed on a vision of an ethereal palace in the sky—a symbol for accomplishment and fame.

Unbeknownst to him, the stream, which appears to be a direct path to the palace, turns unexpectedly just beyond his view.

Like the rest of us, the voyager is not the true master of his fate. Unforeseen twists and turns in the road, trials and tribulations, all beyond his control, lie ahead. This concept is expressed in the wisdom literature of the Bible: “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

In addition to representing a spiritual pilgrim, the intrepid voyager could serve as a personification of 19th-century America, a country in its own adolescence. Indeed, Cole’s depiction proffers a cautionary tale to those pushing fervently for westward expansion— those blinded by the illusory promises of earthly glory.