The Course of Empire: The Consummation of Empire
1836 · Oil on canvas · New-York Historical Society
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This print
About this work
- Artist
- Thomas Cole (1801–1848)
- Year
- 1836
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 130.2 × 193 cm
- Collection
- New-York Historical Society
- Movement
- Hudson River School
- Series
- The Course of Empire
The third and largest canvas of The Course of Empire, the midpoint and climax of the cycle. The valley has vanished beneath a marble city of colonnades, domes, terraces and fountains, and a triumphal procession crosses a bridge to cheering crowds; the harbour is crowded with galleys and the sky is the clear noon of high summer. Only the boulder on its crag, visible above the buildings, identifies the place. Cole painted it in 1836 for Luman Reed, who died the same year. The architecture is Greco-Roman, and American viewers, surrounded by revived classical public buildings, could read the series as a warning. Cole advertised it with lines from Byron's Childe Harold: first freedom and then glory, and when that fails, wealth, vice, corruption. The five paintings are in the New-York Historical Society.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A marble city of colonnades and fountains at clear noon with a triumphal procession, the largest of the five, for a living room, dining room or hallway at 36×24 in black. Cream, warm grey or deep blue; the centre of the sequence.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Hudson River School painting
- Era
- 19th century (1836)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- living room, dining room, hallway or entryway
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 36×24. Prints at 18×12, 24×16, 36×24 in — 18×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×16 above a console or sideboard; 36×24 as the statement piece above a sofa or headboard.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; natural wood lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Course of Empire: The Consummation of Empire in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Course of Empire: The Consummation of Empire painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
The full-bleed edition
The painting printed edge-to-edge at its own proportions, filling the whole sheet — and available on gallery-wrapped canvas.
