Dream of Arcadia
After
Thomas Cole
(American, born England, 1801 - 1848)
Engraver
James Smillie
(Scottish, 1807-1885)
Date1850-1851
MediumEngraving on paper
DimensionsOverall: 11 1/2 x 13in. (29.2 x 33cm)
Image: 6 5/8 x 10 1/2in. (16.8 x 26.7cm)
Image: 6 5/8 x 10 1/2in. (16.8 x 26.7cm)
ClassificationsPRINTS
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Terms
Object number85.48
Description On View
Not on viewCollections
CopyrightNo known copyright restrictions.
Label TextThe American Art-Union commissioned Smillie to make this reproductive print to advertise their ownership of Cole's original painting (1838, Denver Art Museum), which the Art-Union planned to distribute in one of its popular annual lotteries. The dreamlike appeal of the image is due to Cole's poetic evocation of an by-gone utopia; a trope described in Western imagination many different ways: the Garden of Eden, the New Jerusalem, the Promised Land, the Land of Peace and Plenty and so forth.
Paul D. Schweizer
May 2012
