In his famous series of four paintings, the great American "father" of the Hudson River School of art, Thomas Cole (1801-1848), depicted the life of a single representative human Soul as a voyage from birth to death-each painting illustrating a further bend in the river of life: Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and finally, Old Age. Cole supplemented his series with a long poem (reproduced at the end of this volume) along the lines of Dante's Divine Comedy or Newman's Dream of Gerontius, elucidating the meaning of his art. Drawing upon these resources together with the religious and philosophical influences of his time, Addison Hodges Hart succeeds in making The Voyage of Life poignantly applicable to us in the here and now. In Hart's masterful hands, Cole's masterpiece comes alive as timeless wisdom, insight, even contemplative counsel. Like all genuine art, Cole's series communicates one human soul's truth to another, regardless of the distance in space, time, or worldview that may separate them.
