The essay discusses the huge Oil on canvas- “The Voyage of Life: Childhood” by Thomas Cole, that is currently displayed at Dixon Gallery and Gardens, which is a fine art museum and public garden. There are more than 2,000 objects including paintings and porcelain in huge diversity.
Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life: Childhood (1839-1840) - Oil on canvas
Thomas Cole, the British artist, emerged as a prominent figure in the late 1820s. His work related to the romantic pre-Civil War America. “The Voyage of Life” is a one of the series of landscapes that display his greatest achievements (Current Exhibitions 2016). The magnificent landscape is one of the important landscapes that shows a depiction of American scenery. Through the artwork, Cole attempts to convey the word of God and make his religious messages more clear through the sublime landscape.
The “Voyage of Life” shows the journey of a pilgrim on a boat that emerges from a dark cave that looks mysterious. When the viewer looks at the artwork, what catches his eye is the massive rocky entrance of the cave, the colorful greenery and foliage around the river and the bright sky and its light flooding the grounds on the right side. The whole depiction looks real and yet unreal or a mysterious earthly place.
An angel with golden hair stands in the golden boat, and there is a bright halo behind her head that looks almost like a star. She is wearing a white dress, and her arms are outstretched as if trying to balance. Her wings stretch behind her and are partly covered by the darkness of the cave. The angelic figure is guiding the boat forward. The boat carries intricate carvings, and there is golden angel carved on its head. There are fresh flowers and foliage in the boat and the middle of the flowers is a small boy or baby who is naked. His arms are held in upward motions and his whole body shows the excitement of seeing the bright light ahead and getting out of the darkness of the cave. It is as if the joyous infant is trying to reach out to the world and life.
The boat looks small as compared to the tall rocky entrance of the cave. The rocks look gigantic and rough. The mouth of the cave gets smaller and darker and is covered with huge rocks that extend high towards the sky covered with dark clouds. Some parts of the rocks are covered with moss and greenery. The river flows gently, and it is evident by the undisturbed shadows of the boat and its occupants and the rocky sides in the river. It is bordered with foliage that is colorful and lively. Blue and white lotuses with their round boat-shaped leaves cover the sides of the river. The other side of the ground is flooded with soft light that looks warm and divine. The ground is covered with bright flowers, green grass, and healthy foliage. The sky is pale blue and cast with pinkish tinted clouds. The rocky cliffs look gentle and inviting, bathed in rose light from the skies. There is a palace supported by the cliffs in the distant sky. The soft light emerging from the pink clouds are a vision of eternal life. "The Voyage of Life" recalls the trend of the Hudson River painters who earned a livelihood by the sale of landscapes and Thomas Cole is one of the first American painters to do that. (Thomas Cole's Voyage of Life 2016).
The oil on canvas by Cole is very pleasing to the eye and gives hope. It shows a palace in the far-off sky. The painting portrays the wilderness in fresh, lively colors. The warm colors and green scenery lend a peaceful look to the artwork. The dark cavern on the left side contrasts strongly with the rosy light of the morning on the other side. The luxuriant flowers and plants covering the ground and the banks of the river stand for the pleasures and desires of life.
The artist makes use of short and fine brush strokes to add details to the work. The contrasts show that Cole had mastery in depicting shadows and light. The darkest part of the canvas is the cave, and the brightest part is the rose-tinted sky flooding the ground. He makes use of bright greens, reds, yellows and blues to depict the foliage that makes them look a bit unreal and too full of life and freshness. Perhaps this was his way of making a more forceful impact on the viewer about the exquisite pleasures of heaven and peace. The dark, towering cliffs on the other side look menacing and harsh. The use of irregular and broken lines add details to the canvas and at the same time create an intense expression of drama. The artist makes deft use of his brush to add textural contrast between the river, the foliage, and the cave. The vibrancy of the living colorful foliage contrasts with the rough dark cave. He has managed to create a picturesque light effect on the canvas which is both complex and contrastive. He expresses the greenery and the sheen of light with the right gradations of Atmosphere, both distant and far. He creates vibrant colors of nature that did not exist in reality.
Cole’s ultimate purpose is to send a moral message behind the work and communicate a spiritual meaning. The angel is shown guiding the man to the Heaven, watching over him and takes him away from the darkness towards the light. The subtle and expressive energies of nature and environment develop a story and create emotions within the viewer. The variety in the scene and the atmospheric affects create a kind of magnificence. The golden atmosphere of the sky, purity, and transparency of the water, the towering gray summit intensify the effect of the landscape. Looking at one side of the canvas one gets filled with fear and uncertainty while the other side of the canvas evokes the feeling so peace and hope. The landscape composition is a brilliant one and made of tropical tree-masses, the winding river, the castle in the air and the light flooded skies.
Works Cited
"Current Exhibitions." dixon. 2016. Web. 19 March. 2016.
"Thomas Cole's Voyage of Life." archive.org. 2016. Web. 19 March. 2016.
