"Thomas Cole, America's premier landscape painter of the 1820's and 1830's, constructed the idea for his series, The Course of Empire, from a variety of influences. He began his intense study of Europe and its art in 1829 by sailing to England, where he met and talked with influential artists such as J.M.W. Turner and John Martin. He studied the works of those artists and others in the British galleries of the time. Scholars recognize today that those artists' influence upon him was strikingly pervasive. Cole also felt the perishability of man's works when he traveled in Europe and saw...