The Course of Empire: Destruction by Thomas Cole

The Course of Empire: Destruction (1836)

Thomas Cole | Hudson River School / Romanticism | Oil on canvas

A mighty empire falls in flames and chaos! Invaders attack a beautiful city while a palace burns and a headless statue strides forward in the foreground. Dark clouds and smoke fill the sky as a great civilization comes to an end.

Did you know? This is painting four in a series of five showing how an empire rises and falls. Cole painted the same valley in all five, so look for the big rock on a crag and watch one place go from wilderness to ruins. His patron, a New Yorker named Luman Reed, ordered the series for the picture gallery on the third floor of his mansion.

Original held at New York Historical

Museum-quality giclée print on archival Enhanced Matte Art paper (200gsm) with fade-resistant pigment inks rated for 100+ years. Also available as gallery-wrapped canvas and custom framed.

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