To Grow In The Open Air Analysis
Destiny D. Aquino
AMST 100A
2ND Critique
To Grow in the Open Air: The Connection Between Religion and Nature in Thomas Cole's The Course of Empire
Thomas Cole, a founder of The Hudson River School, can be considered one of the most famous American artists. The Hudson River School focused on creating landscapes of the continental United States in a pastoral setting in which humans were one with the their land. The Hudson River School artists accepted that the beauty and diversity of the American landscape was only possible through the divine grace of god. And while each of their individual piety varied the Hudson River School painters opinioned paralleled those of the fathers of American transcendentalism: Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman. The …show more content…
These paintings are clearly most influenced by Cole’s trips to Europe. The empire has Greek, Roman and Ottoman allusions in it therefore reinforcing that this is an imaginary empire not meant to represent any of the well-known empires of the past. The stone circle has been replaced by a domed building. Both paintings are filled with people yet the hierarchy is evident as is the decadency of the empire. In the bottom left of the The Consummation there is a general or ruler in a red robe raising a structure that appears to be a cross that could be a reference to Constantine and or the crusades. In the bottom right of this picture, there is a woman on a throne with others bowing down to here, there is also a brigade of soldiers with weapons and a fountain depicting control over the elements. The empire has many personified gods across it signifying that worship is now towards people. Gold, potted and decorative plants as well as large ships filled with soldiers also signify that nature is being used for negatives. In The Destruction of Empire the empire in every way falls apart: buildings are burning down, the clouds are back to storming, the ships are breaking in half and a woman is even committing suicide running from a solider which may allude to rape and the unspoken causalities of war. All of these items suggest that Cole feels the decadence and the domination of nature and the position of individuals over the nature lead to
AMST 100A
2ND Critique
To Grow in the Open Air: The Connection Between Religion and Nature in Thomas Cole's The Course of Empire
Thomas Cole, a founder of The Hudson River School, can be considered one of the most famous American artists. The Hudson River School focused on creating landscapes of the continental United States in a pastoral setting in which humans were one with the their land. The Hudson River School artists accepted that the beauty and diversity of the American landscape was only possible through the divine grace of god. And while each of their individual piety varied the Hudson River School painters opinioned paralleled those of the fathers of American transcendentalism: Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman. The …show more content…
These paintings are clearly most influenced by Cole’s trips to Europe. The empire has Greek, Roman and Ottoman allusions in it therefore reinforcing that this is an imaginary empire not meant to represent any of the well-known empires of the past. The stone circle has been replaced by a domed building. Both paintings are filled with people yet the hierarchy is evident as is the decadency of the empire. In the bottom left of the The Consummation there is a general or ruler in a red robe raising a structure that appears to be a cross that could be a reference to Constantine and or the crusades. In the bottom right of this picture, there is a woman on a throne with others bowing down to here, there is also a brigade of soldiers with weapons and a fountain depicting control over the elements. The empire has many personified gods across it signifying that worship is now towards people. Gold, potted and decorative plants as well as large ships filled with soldiers also signify that nature is being used for negatives. In The Destruction of Empire the empire in every way falls apart: buildings are burning down, the clouds are back to storming, the ships are breaking in half and a woman is even committing suicide running from a solider which may allude to rape and the unspoken causalities of war. All of these items suggest that Cole feels the decadence and the domination of nature and the position of individuals over the nature lead to