The Voyage of Life: Childhood

1842

Oil on canvas, 134.3 × 195.3 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington

A baby on a bed of flowers drifts out of a dark cave in a golden boat, guided by an angel. It opens a four-part series that follows one traveler down a river.

Painted in Rome and first shown there in 1842, at the Annual Exhibition of Modern Artists.
Look at the prow: a carved angel figurehead holds up an hourglass.
Cole signed and dated it at lower left, alongside the place where he made it.
Each stage of life, from childhood to old age, gets its own landscape and weather. The National Gallery points out that Cole presents prayer as the traveler's only hope of salvation.
Sold by Cole to a Cincinnati collector; the National Gallery bought it in 1971.

Image: National Gallery of Art, Washington (open access) · CC0