Thursday, November 12, 2009

Past and Present

The Past (1838)

The Present (1838)

The English-American artist Thomas Cole (1801-1848) confronts here two paintings showing the same castle in different epochs, first in the middle ages during it’s best time, second today as a ruin. In the painting of the actual castle this is allegorically illuminated by the evening sun. Ruin – evening – death.
These very, very romantic paintings are illustrating the romantic glorification of ruins, death and decay.

Maybe it should be mentioned that neither the old castle nor the actual one are depictions of a real castle, they are pure fantasy.

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