The Course of Empire: Destruction
Thomas Cole (1836)
Thomas Cole’s The Course of Empire: Destruction plunges a once‑ordered classical city into <strong>apocalyptic collapse</strong>. A <strong>collapsing bridge</strong>, <strong>burning colonnades</strong>, and a <strong>headless gladiator statue</strong> preside over panicked crowds and flaming warships, while a fixed mountain crag endures beyond the chaos. The canvas stages <strong>moral retribution</strong>: empire’s luxury curdles into vice and is swept away by combined human and elemental fury <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[2]</sup>.
