Arcadia in Thomas Cole’s Art

During the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, there were a number of writers and artists who viewed Italy as Arcadia.¹⁹² This association of Italy with Arcadia was not a Romantic invention, as images of Arcadia are already set in Sicily in both Idylls of Theocritus and Eclogues of Virgil.¹⁹³ On the one hand, the artists could draw on these and the Renaissance literary sources. On the other, they studied the Arcadian phenomenon in the earlier visual arts. The pastoral landscapes of Claude Lorrain were certainly the most important references for European and American painters searching for the inspiration of Arcadia.¹⁹⁴ Some details in his paintings, though, seem to derive from the knowledge of paintings by Giorgione and Titian, as will be shown below.

Being an artist of the 19^th century, Cole was perhaps no exception to those who saw Italy as Arcadia. It was probably because of this notion that led him to his own journey to the country in 1831, to find inspiration in Arcadia.

Inspired by the experiences of his Italian journeys, Cole depicted his image of Arcadia in three of his paintings, the titles of which include the place name. These

191 Robert C. Cafritz, “Classical Revision of the Pastoral Landscape,” in: Robert C. Cafritz, Lawrence Gowing and David Rosand (eds.), Places of Delight: The Pastoral Landscape, Washington, D.C.:

Phillips Collection, 1988, pp. 82–111, here p. 107.

192 Andrea Mariani, “Sleeping and Waking Fauns: Harriet Goodhue Hosmer’s Experience of Italy, 1852–1870,” in: Irma B. Jaffe (ed.), The Italian Presence in American Art, 1760-1860, New York:

Fordham University Press, 1989, pp. 66–81, here p. 66.

193 Carbone, 2016, p. 88.

194 Christian Rümelin, “Claude Lorrain and the Notion of Printed Arcadian Landscapes,” in: Art in Print 4, no. 5, 2015, pp. 12–16. Sonnabend, 2011, p. 17.

paintings are The Course of Empire: The Pastoral or Arcadian State of 1834,¹⁹⁵ Dream of Arcadia of 1838, and An Evening in Arcadia of 1843 (figs. 9–11).¹⁹⁶ A close look at them may provide an idea of Cole’s Arcadian vision.

The canvas titled The Course of Empire: The Pastoral or Arcadian State (fig. 9) is the second painting in The Course of Empire series, representing one site in a cycle of five different states and eras in a transition from a primitive society to an advanced civilization.¹⁹⁷ Cole’s description of the cycle, published in the November issues of The American Monthly Magazine and The Knickerbocker of 1836, helps to better understand the iconography.¹⁹⁸ Situated between the negatively connoted Savage State and the Consummation of Empire, where decadence foreshadows the final Destruction, Cole interprets Arcadia as a visual localization of an ideal, albeit fugitive, condition. The painter chose a Claudian landscape—even though a North American scenery might be intended—that is peopled with small figures leading their lives in harmony with Nature within a peaceful landscape illuminated by a fresh morning light, “a few hours after sunrise, and in the early summer.”¹⁹⁹ The people in the painting are miniaturized with regard to the huge trees in the foreground and the dramatic mountain massif in the background. Unlike in Claude Lorrain’s landscapes, where small figures are often integrated into coherent mythological scenes, Cole’s figures rendered in miniature are each engaged in their own business, apparently at peace with the vast land: a woman is working with distaff and spindle; an old man is carving geometric forms on the ground; a young boy is drawing a figure, maybe loosely referring to the anecdote of young Giotto learning to draw after nature related

195 The Course of Empire: The Pastoral or Arcadian State, 1834, oil on canvas, 99.70 × 160.66 cm, The New-York Historical Society, inv. 1858.2.

196 An Evening in Arcadia, 1843, oil on canvas, 82.87 × 122.87 cm, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut. Bequest of Clara Hinton Gould, inv. 1948.190.

197 Noble, 1856, pp. 176–177.

198 Thomas Cole, “Cole’s Pictures of the Course of Empire,” in: The Knickerbocker 8, November, 1836, p. 629 (see appendix no. 1).

199 Ibid.

by Giorgio Vasari.²⁰⁰ The theme of the soldier roaming through a serene landscape could be derived from early-16^th-century Venetian painting, for example, in the works of Giorgione and early Titian. The latter’s Sacred and Profane Love, for example, was already to be seen in the Borghese Collection in Rome during the 19^th century; it is known that Cole had visited the park on his second journey to Italy.²⁰¹

Even though, the small figure scenes are composed independently, they are united by one integrating idea. The setting for this picture is clearly a pastoral one, as a shepherd tends his grazing flocks near the center in the middle ground and a group of

‘Arcadians’ are enjoying themselves in the shade of a big tree, listening and dancing to the sound of a pipe. At the same time, Cole alludes to the idea of the lost paradise, with a farmer ploughing a field on the left middle ground or the already mentioned spinning woman as a possible reference to Adam and Eve. “In this picture, we have Agriculture, Commerce, and Religion,” comments Cole.²⁰² Culture is in the making, but Cole’s Arcadia is not an enduring place as there are soldiers depicted on the left, and the boy is drawing “a man with a sword.”²⁰³

Cole’s painting Dream of Arcadia in Denver, created around 1838, shows, instead, an idyllic scene of ancient Greece (fig. 10).²⁰⁴ This is implied by a Doric temple in the middle ground. Just like that in The Pastoral or Arcadian State, there is also a group of small figures occupied with dancing and music-making in Dream of Arcadia; such an image of entertainment reflects the simplicity and contentment of the Arcadians. The middle ground center accommodates a reclining shepherd beside several goats, signifying that the landscape depiction belongs to the pastoral genre.

200 According to Vasari, young Giotto draws a sheep after nature. Giorgio Vasari, Le Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori scultori ed architettori, vol. 1, Florence: Sansoni, 1878, pp. 370–371.

201 Parry, 1988, p. 266; Greene, 1860, p. 105.

202 Cole, 1836, p. 629.

203 Ibid.

204 Parry, 1988, p. 203.

The painting’s composition resembles The Arcadian State insofar as Cole used the same structural elements, clearly dividing the picture space in a strip parallel to the lower edge in the foreground peopled by small figures, in a middle ground with fields, meadows, and an architectural ‘eye-catcher,’ the prehistoric stone ring in The Arcadian State, the Doric temple in The Dream of Arcadia, both indicating the early state of Religion; in the background, the horizon is concealed by an area of steep mountains. The clear skies animated by some fair-weather clouds contribute to the paintings’ serene atmosphere.

An Evening in Arcadia (fig. 11) was executed right after Cole’s second journey to Italy, in 1843. It displays a view of the banks of an undisturbed river in the foreground with a huge natural bridge formed by a rock massif in the middle ground to be observed against a dramatic backlight; through the monumental arch, seemingly formed by Nature, a sunbathed plain extends into the depth of the pictorial space.²⁰⁵ Unlike the former two Arcadian paintings, in which lush green fields smoothly blanket the landscape, the natural scenery in An Evening in Arcadia appears rather rough and craggy. Nevertheless, the only two figures in the painting are at ease within their environment, with one playing a lyre and the other dancing.²⁰⁶

Dream of Arcadia and An Evening in Arcadia reveal two aspects of Cole’s vision;

the former, a scene full of cheerfulness and joy, and the latter, one filled with a melancholy mood.²⁰⁷ More than the other two works, The Arcadian State expresses the idea that the earthly paradise is transient. It is not difficult to find certain common features in the three works. They all represent some secluded area with vegetated surrounding, distant mountains, bright skies and still waters. Moreover, they all contain the portrayal of merry people taking up leisure activities in the natural setting,

205 Neset, 2009, p. 44.

206 Ibid.

207 Mariani, 1989, p. 70.

a sign implying that the individuals not only enjoy but are in harmony with Nature as well. These elements bring to mind the ideal place known as Arcadia. Only some of the details, however, suggest that this realm could be threatened.

Arcadia is also known to be a place filled with ruins.²⁰⁸ In the pictorial representations of Arcadia made in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, ruins play a critical part.²⁰⁹ The broken structures are often shown as arches and columns of Roman origin included in the landscapes.²¹⁰ The appearance of ruins not only suggests the inevitable end of all man’s greatness, it as well evokes the motif of the Golden Age, a peaceful, prosperous period during which people lived in ideal happiness in a past civilization.²¹¹ The profound opposition of nature and civilization is reflected through the ruins within Arcadia.

208 Loukaki, 2004, p. 148.

209 Neset, 2009, p. 31.

210 Ibid., pp. 31–32.

211 Ibid., p. 32.