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Created in a time in which society swung between individual and collective responsibility, Thomas Cole’s painting series shows us a healthy and just balance

Whether we call it the Victorian Era or the Gilded Age, on both sides of the pond the English-speaking world of the nineteenth century was distinctly uneasy about the state of their politics. Just over a decade after Thomas Cole died in 1848, Charles Dickens would famously open his novel A Tale of Two Cities with the striking (if rather vague) line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….” What followed was a harrowing retrospective on the French Revolution, in which the grisliest aspects of human nature seemed to lay an axe to the roots of Western civilization itself.

Slightly earlier, Nathaniel Hawthorne had published his scathing assessment of New England Puritanism, The Scarlet Letter, revealing his uneasiness with the West’s mounting utopian streak, as well as its seemingly desperate desire to maintain the appearances of goodness at the expense of society’s most vulnerable – especially women. Two years later he would follow it up with the lesser-known Blithedale Romance, whose satirical analysis of so-called utopian communities undercut the basic humanist assumptions Victorians tended to make about ethics.  , In France, meanwhile, Victor Hugo’s landmark novels Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame attempted to hold a mirror to the West’s myriad creative ways to use and discard those most in need.

Hugues Merle, The Scarlet Letter, 1861

To paint it with a very broad brush, in Europe – which was still reeling from the massive political upheaval and chaotic violence of the French Revolution – the predominant fear was that of political unrest, while in America people often cringed at the idea of an authoritarian dictatorship that would claim to offer stability at the expense of not only economic and social freedoms but also of recognition of basic human dignity. Yet these two fears, while at opposite ends of the political spectrum, were related: The encroachment of the state on one’s own life –whether that state was represented by a king or by the people – was to be avoided at all costs.

Though this may sound like a glaringly obvious assumption to our postmodern ears, with the Enlightenment the West’s understanding of the relative roles of a government and its citizens had begun to shift. The responsibility for upholding the good of society no longer fell to individuals, who were expected to behave with a sense of justice, respect, and charity towards their neighbors (whether they actually did it or not). Rather, emerging disciplines such as economics, psychology, and sociology placed an increasing emphasis on the systems of society themselves to carry the weight of social harmony.

Yet, while this approach has certainly resulted in most of the modern advancements that have improved the length and quality of life for countless millions of people, the Victorians, looking forward, also feared it would become a kind of moral crutch, allowing people to avoid responsibility for their own lives and decisions and weakening their resolve to take care of each other. On the one hand, people like Hawthorne recognized that placing too great an emphasis on the duties of the individual could easily lead to a new kind of “witch trial.” On the other, to overthrow an existing political order and replace it with a purely logical system, as the French Revolution had tried and spectacularly failed to do, was to risk isolating each individual, dehumanizing one’s neighbors and, ultimately, even one’s sense of self.

Jacques-Louis David, Le serment de jeu de paume (The Tennis-Court Oath), c. 1791

The Victorians recognized that the implications of our shared perception of the state are far-reaching. In light of this charged political discourse, the tension between politics and individual flourishing in Cole’s Course of Empire series takes on a more urgent tone. The transition, especially between the Pastoral State and the Destruction of Empire becomes alarmingly brief, separated only by the Consummation, whose joyous celebration, in a way not dissimilar to that of the French aristocracy in 1788, seems increasingly foolhardy and calloused in the face of the thousands of years of history and culture the citizens are about to destroy.

Thomas Cole, The Savage State, or The Commencement of Empire, from The Course of Empire series, 1834

But how can such a fate be avoided? The question, for Cole, was not theoretical. The Victorians were well aware that the aristocracy was in decline; Cole’s fear was simply what, and who, it would take with it. How could some semblance of order be preserved for future generations? Looking back, we can see that the two world wars realized the Victorians’ greatest fears – and, to the great relief of many, apparently overcame them. However, as discussed in the last installment of this series, though Cole seems to present the pastoral as an ideal for human flourishing, the Cold War’s necessity of rearmament, as well as our increasing reliance on complex webs of technology and information, seem to make it unlikely that we will be returning to the idyllic countryside anytime soon – at least not voluntarily.

As with nature, however, it may be possible to distill from Cole’s rather pessimistic nostalgia some ideas from the pastoral that can apply even to life in the “empire.” After all, the simplicity of the Arcadian State can be deceptive; human nature does not fundamentally change, whether it is manifested by the riverbank or the expressway. If not the people themselves, what about the Pastoral State could temper the tragic excesses of the Consummation?

Thomas Cole, The Consummation, from The Course of Empire series, 1836

For Cole, the answer may lie in the paradoxical truth that, the more people there are, the easier it is to forget, as Mother Teresa recently put it, “we belong to each other.” When one pictures the French Revolution, for instance, it is easy to envision the gruesome rioting of the mob contrasted with the decadent, time-killing pleasures of the aristocracy. As a whole, on either side the concern seems less about a fair distribution of goods than about wresting them from the “other.” Democracy won out in the end, and so today Marie Antoinette is seen as a tyrant. Yet, had the aristocracy prevailed, the revolutionaries would have been a band of mass murderers whose attempts to create a utopian world could only have resulted in a totalitarian regime at the expense of those who brought them into power. The one who maintains power is the one who maintains the empire, but in the pursuit of power even the most noble goals are often lost or obscured. Even in a crowd, it is every man for himself.

Thomas Cole, The Vicious State, or The State of Destruction, from The Course of Empire series, 1836

While power politics can plague even the smallest of settlements, Cole’s pastoral does not highlight politics at all. Instead, he chooses to depict each person shouldering the responsibility for a different task, fulfilling their duty alone. There is ample time to reflect and little to covet in this world. Perhaps even more importantly is the underlying simplicity of the economic system: If the shepherd loses his sheep, there will be no wool for the town. If the fisher cannot catch fish, there will be none for dinner. If the farmer fails to produce a crop, the people will starve.

At this scale, it is not the system of government or economics that matters as much as each person doing what they can to take care of those around them. While not a complete answer to the problem of tyranny of the majority or of the autocrat, it is a reminder of what in our lives we can control. Though it may not be possible to fix the system, it is possible to do your job today. Someone may be counting on it. It may be old-fashioned, perhaps even antiquated to say so, but even in our turbulent political circumstances, Cole’s pastoral is a reminder that a small choice to take care of someone else can make all the difference.

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