The Course of Empire: Destruction 1836

"The Course of Empire: Destruction" (1836) by Thomas Cole (1801-1848) is a dramatic depiction of the fall of a once-great civilization. The painting, currently housed at the New York Historical Society, showcases a bustling city consumed by flames, with a crowd fleeing across a bridge as a towering statue of a warrior lies broken on its pedestal. Cole's work explores the cyclical nature of history through a series of five paintings, each depicting a different stage of the "Course of Empire" – from the "Savage State" to the "Desolation."