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Cole actually painted two sets. The first, commissioned by banker and philanthropist Samuel Ward, Sr., the father of Julia Ward Howe, and completed in 1840, is in the collection of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Museum in Utica, New York. The second, 1841–1842, is in the collection of the National Gallery in Washington. In 1848, the American Art-Union, a subscription society that distributed paintings and prints to its members, purchased the Ward series and offered it as the prize in its annual lottery. In December of that year, subscriber J. Taylor Brodt won the four paintings. At the same time, the Art-Union commissioned James Smillie to make an engraving after the second image in the series, Youth. [1] Smillie, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, was already an accomplished engraver when he settled in New York in 1828. He was made a full member of the National Academy of Design in 1852, and worked closely with the Art-Union to reproduce the paintings that the organization distributed to its membership.
In 1849, the Reverend Gorham D. Abbott purchased Brodt’s series and installed it in the Spingler Institute, a school for girls in New York City. That year, the Bulletin of the American Art-Union printed the following notice:
The [Spingler] Institute is an establishment of the highest class, for the education of young ladies, and these pictures are to be among the permanent decorations of its walls. It is with great satisfaction that we chronicle this act of wise liberality and enlightened taste. No where could there be found a more appropriate location than this for these works, which united so much purity of sentiment with so much artistic merit. We hope that other institutions of education will see the importance of calling into their service the ministrations of the Fine Art, to assist in informing the minds, and elevating the affections of their pupils, as well as to refine their tastes. [2]
In 1853, Abbott commissioned Smillie to produce a complete set of engravings of all four paintings, each bearing the words “From the original Painting by Thomas Cole in the possession of Rev. Gorham D. Abbott, Spingler Institute, New York.” The engravings were completed between 1853 and 1856, and a poetic inscription accompanied each one. [3]
In Old Age, darkness is falling, but the clouds part to reveal a celestial light. With a host of companions, the angel has returned to guide the man, now white-haired and aged, on his final journey to heaven. The landscape is barren but the water is calm and the dangers that surrounded him in Manhood have disappeared. By calling on God for salvation, the man has received the reward of eternity in heaven.
The engraved version of Old Age bears this inscription:
While through this changing world we roam,
From Infancy to Age.
Heaven is the christian Pilgrim's home,
His rest at every Stage.
A beam from Heaven is sent to cheer
The christian on his road.
And angels are attending near,
To bear him home to GOD.
The world recedes, it disappears!
Heaven opens on my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring!
Lend, lend your wings! I mount, I fly!
O Grave, where is thy victory?
O Death, where is thy sting?
The production of the engravings enabled wide distribution of the images throughout the country. The series thus became an iconic and beloved allegory of man’s troubled, but ultimately redemptive, earthly experience.
Notes:
[1] Paul D. Schweizer, director of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Museum, includes these details in his chronology of the production of The Voyage of Life, http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/2aa/2aa612e.htm
[2] Bulletin of the American Art Union. New York, 1849.
[3] Schweizer, http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/2aa/2aa612e.htm
ProvenanceTo 1983
Barbara B. Millhouse, New York, NY and Winston-Salem, NC [1]
From 1983
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Barbara B. Millhouse on December 29, 1983. [2]
Notes:
[1] Deed of Gift, object file.
[2] See note 1.
Exhibition History2010
Thomas Cole's Voyage of Life Series: Prints from the Reynolda Collection
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (9/11/2010–2/20/2010)
2017
Samuel F.B. Morse's Gallery of the Louvre and the Art of Invention
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (02/17/2017 - 06/04/2017)
2021
The Voyage of Life: Art, Allegory, and Community Response
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (7/16/2021 - 12/12/2021)
Published References
DepartmentAmerican Art
Voyage of Life: Old Age
Artist(after)
Thomas Cole
(1801 - 1848)
Date1855-1856
Mediumengraving
DimensionsFrame: 26 1/8 x 32 1/4 in. (66.4 x 81.9 cm)
Paper: 19 7/8 x 26 in. (50.5 x 66 cm)
Image (with text): 17 1/2 x 23 3/8 in. (44.5 x 59.4 cm)
SignedT. Cole
Credit LineGift of Barbara B. Millhouse
CopyrightPublic domain
Object number1983.2.39.d
DescriptionIn Thomas Cole’s four-part The Voyage of Life, 1840, a river voyage symbolizes man’s journey through the stages of life. The series begins with an image of a child in a small boat guided by an angelic figure, then follows the character through youth, manhood, and old age as he attempts to navigate life’s treacherous waters.Cole actually painted two sets. The first, commissioned by banker and philanthropist Samuel Ward, Sr., the father of Julia Ward Howe, and completed in 1840, is in the collection of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Museum in Utica, New York. The second, 1841–1842, is in the collection of the National Gallery in Washington. In 1848, the American Art-Union, a subscription society that distributed paintings and prints to its members, purchased the Ward series and offered it as the prize in its annual lottery. In December of that year, subscriber J. Taylor Brodt won the four paintings. At the same time, the Art-Union commissioned James Smillie to make an engraving after the second image in the series, Youth. [1] Smillie, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, was already an accomplished engraver when he settled in New York in 1828. He was made a full member of the National Academy of Design in 1852, and worked closely with the Art-Union to reproduce the paintings that the organization distributed to its membership.
In 1849, the Reverend Gorham D. Abbott purchased Brodt’s series and installed it in the Spingler Institute, a school for girls in New York City. That year, the Bulletin of the American Art-Union printed the following notice:
The [Spingler] Institute is an establishment of the highest class, for the education of young ladies, and these pictures are to be among the permanent decorations of its walls. It is with great satisfaction that we chronicle this act of wise liberality and enlightened taste. No where could there be found a more appropriate location than this for these works, which united so much purity of sentiment with so much artistic merit. We hope that other institutions of education will see the importance of calling into their service the ministrations of the Fine Art, to assist in informing the minds, and elevating the affections of their pupils, as well as to refine their tastes. [2]
In 1853, Abbott commissioned Smillie to produce a complete set of engravings of all four paintings, each bearing the words “From the original Painting by Thomas Cole in the possession of Rev. Gorham D. Abbott, Spingler Institute, New York.” The engravings were completed between 1853 and 1856, and a poetic inscription accompanied each one. [3]
In Old Age, darkness is falling, but the clouds part to reveal a celestial light. With a host of companions, the angel has returned to guide the man, now white-haired and aged, on his final journey to heaven. The landscape is barren but the water is calm and the dangers that surrounded him in Manhood have disappeared. By calling on God for salvation, the man has received the reward of eternity in heaven.
The engraved version of Old Age bears this inscription:
While through this changing world we roam,
From Infancy to Age.
Heaven is the christian Pilgrim's home,
His rest at every Stage.
A beam from Heaven is sent to cheer
The christian on his road.
And angels are attending near,
To bear him home to GOD.
The world recedes, it disappears!
Heaven opens on my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring!
Lend, lend your wings! I mount, I fly!
O Grave, where is thy victory?
O Death, where is thy sting?
The production of the engravings enabled wide distribution of the images throughout the country. The series thus became an iconic and beloved allegory of man’s troubled, but ultimately redemptive, earthly experience.
Notes:
[1] Paul D. Schweizer, director of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Museum, includes these details in his chronology of the production of The Voyage of Life, http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/2aa/2aa612e.htm
[2] Bulletin of the American Art Union. New York, 1849.
[3] Schweizer, http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/2aa/2aa612e.htm
ProvenanceTo 1983
Barbara B. Millhouse, New York, NY and Winston-Salem, NC [1]
From 1983
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Barbara B. Millhouse on December 29, 1983. [2]
Notes:
[1] Deed of Gift, object file.
[2] See note 1.
Exhibition History2010
Thomas Cole's Voyage of Life Series: Prints from the Reynolda Collection
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (9/11/2010–2/20/2010)
2017
Samuel F.B. Morse's Gallery of the Louvre and the Art of Invention
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (02/17/2017 - 06/04/2017)
2021
The Voyage of Life: Art, Allegory, and Community Response
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (7/16/2021 - 12/12/2021)
Published References
Status
Not on view