The death of Mr. Reed was greatly lamented by the artists of his time and his name has come down to this generation as the Patron of American Art.
1-5. The Course of Empire. _Thomas Cole._
A series of five pictures, illustrating a nation's rise, progress, greatness, decline, and fall, and the consequent changes in the same landscape.
NOTE.--The isolated rock, crowning a precipitous hill, in the distance, identifies the scenes in each of the series; but the observer's position varies in the several pictures.
"First freedom, and then glory, when that fails, Wealth, vice, corruption."
1. The "Savage State," or "Commencement of Empire." (61½X39.)
The sun is rising from the sea, over a wild scene of rocks, forests, and mountains, dissipating the clouds and darkness of night. Man, attired in skins, is seen engaged in the wild dance and the chase--the characteristic occupations of the savage life. In the picture, we have the first rudiments of society. Men have banded together for mutual aid. The useful arts have commenced in the construction of the canoe, the weapon, and the hut; and we may imagine the germs of two of the fine arts, music and poetry, in the singing usually accompanying the dance of the savage. The empire is asserted, to a limited extent, over sea, land, and the animal kingdom. It is the season of Spring--the morning of the nation's existence.
2. "The Arcadian," or "Pastoral State." (62½X39.)
Ages have passed; a change has been wrought in the scene--man has subjugated "the untracked and rude." We now see the shepherd and his flocks; the ploughman upturning the soil, and the wafting sail; by the shore a village, and on the hill the ascending smoke of sacrifice. In this picture we have agriculture, commerce, and religion. In the aged man describing the mathematical figure, the rude attempt of the boy in drawing; in the female figure with the distaff, the vessel on the stocks; in the primitive temple, and the dance of the peasants to the music of the pipe, we have evidence of the advance made in science, in the useful and the fine arts.
It is early Summer, and the sun has ascended midway to the meridian.
3. "The Consummation of Empire." (75X50½.)
The rude village has become a magnificent city. From the bay--now a capacious harbor, with _phari_ at the entrance, and thronged with war-galleys, and barks with silken sails--ascend piles of architecture, temples, domes, and colonnades. The massive bridge, the streets and squares, lined with palaces and adorned with statuary, clustered columns, and sparkling fountains, are crowded with gorgeous pageants and triumphal processions. It is a day of triumph--man has conquered man--nations have been subjugated. By wealth and power, knowledge, art, and taste, man has achieved the summit of human grandeur.