The Voyage of Life–Youth
Not on view
A young man floats down a river here towards a distant vision of a celestial kingdom, as a nearby angel prepares to accompany him on his life journey. The print is based on one of four allegories that Cole devoted to childhood, youth, manhood, and old age. In 1849, the American Art-Union chose Cole's painting of Youth to be engraved for its subscribers, with publication and distribution following in 1850. The institution boasted nearly nineteen thousand subscribers at its height that year. For an annual fee of five dollars, each subscriber-member received a large engraving and was entered in a lottery with a chance to win original artworks exhibited at the Art-Union's Free Gallery. Aimed at educating the public about contemporary American art, the group's distribution network reached members in every state. This contributed to the creation of a national market for landscapes, genre paintings, and small bronze sculptures.
