Voyage of Life-
    Thomas Cole again captured the cyclical being of nature and life with his second series of paintings dubbed The Voyage of Life. In this series Cole applied religious, moral, and literary meaning to his skillful landscape masterpieces to create a truly allegorical work. He utilized the symbolic spaces of the landscapes paired with the meaning of an individual passing through his life cycle from birth to death. Cole started the four painting series in 1840.
    Cole utilizes the constant of nature to draw out the emotion of a persons birth or childhood. Brilliant color gives a great feeling of life and vibrancy in the first painting: The Voyage of Life: Childhood. The open space and use of light colors portrays the freedom and pure spirit of a youthful person in his second work; The Voyage of Life: Youth. The final painting in the series dubbed The Voyage of Life: Old Age utilizes very dark colors with a single beam of light piercing through the clouds which gives an intense feeling of experience and transcendence of a person who has lived live and is now moving on to another plane of being. His strong use of religious overtones punctuates this grand work tying in the perseverance of nature with the fragile being of life creating a bond and respect of the nature surrounding us.

Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge-
    Thomas Cole did many paintings which are considered very influential. Even some of his art that is not as popular within the art community has deep meaning and conveys just as important message as his other works. One such painting is The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge, 1829. The painting portrays the image of being deep inside of a cave allowing the person to see “the first rays of dawn” illuminate a rough and ragged landscape. There is evidence of a flood which has come and gone, a skull washed up on shore, the ark floating in the early beams of morning light, and a single dove in flight from the ark to the shore. The ark is surrounded by a purple glow signifying God’s favor of cleansing the sins of the world.
     These images reflects Cole’s beliefs that America was a place in the world were life could begin again on a clean slate, previously uninvolved in the destructive ways of the old world. Cole stated that, “The subject of art should be pure and lofty, ... an impressive lesson must be taught, an important scene illustrated--amoral, religious or poetic effect [must] be produced on the mind.”

Home in the Woods-
    Throughout his life Thomas Cole gradually incorporated more and more meaning into his works. Even the seemingly most unimportant part or object within his paintings contains the deepest of meaning. A prime example of this can be seen in what is considered one of his final great works; Home in the Woods. Painted in 1847, Cole captures a wide range of issues in the contemporary society of the time.
     In the foreground of his painting there is a large piling of trees and other debris which suggest a “turbulent anthropomorphic quality.” This symbolizes the violence that the forest has been witness to as well as victim of. In this entanglement of limbs, branches and trunks, Cole utilizes a single broken limb to symbolize the meaning of The Jewish Cemetery by Jacob Ruisdael. Around this large pile of debris, Cole placed several meaningful symbols. Destruction of the forest by man is “recorded” by the ax scarred stump. Destruction of the forest by nature is also symbolized in the “lightning-struck” tree. A common trademark of Cole’s work, a single hellebore plant which at the time was considered an antidote or melancholy, was “strategically” placed in the center of the sawed branches that is symbolic of Cole’s concern for his disappearing wilderness landscapes. Even the small garden behind the cabin and the butter churn in front serve as indicators of the passage of time, a change in season. All of these are measured against the majestic mountain peak which resides in the far distance overseeing the progress of the forest below and the spirit of man within.