Title The Voyage of Life Old Age Creator Thomas Cole Date Created 1842 Physical Dimensions overall 133.4 x 196.2 cm (52 1/2 x 77 1/4 in.) framed 162.9 x 225.7 x 17.8 cm (64 1/8 x 88 7/8 x 7 in.) Provenance Sold by the artist to George K. Shoenberger [1809-1892], Cincinnati, perhaps as early as 1845 and no later than May 1846;[1] Shoenberger heirs, after 20 January 1892;[2] purchased 1908 by Ernst H. Huenefeld, Cincinnati;[3] gift 1908 to Bethesda Hospital and Deaconess Association of Methodist Church of Cincinnati;[4] sold 17 May 1971 through (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York) to NGA. [1] For a discussion of a possible 1845 date, see _Thomas Cole_, Exh. cat. Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, 1969 35. Other sources place the acquisition a bit later than 1845; see Paul D. Schweizer, _The Voyage of Life_ A Chronology, in _The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole, Paintings, Drawings, and Prints_, Exh. cat. Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, 1985 45 ( December 1846? ), and Ellwood C. Parry III, _The Art of Thomas Cole Ambition and Imagination_, Newark, Delaware, 1988 332 ( sometime late in 1846 or, more likely, early in 1847 ); however in a Boston Transcript article entitled The Voyage of Life, which appeared 21 May 1846, the pictures are mentioned as then belonging to a wealthy gentleman of Cincinnati. [2] A letter of April 1979 from Mrs. Robert Heuck (in NGA curatorial files) specifies Mr. Shoenberger died in 1892, at which time many of the belongings of the home were given to heirs. Shoenberger died 20 January 1892; for additional information, see _The Biographical Cyclopaedia and Portrait Gallery with an Historical Sketch of the State of Ohio_, 6 vols., Cincinnati, 1895 6 1457-1458. [3] Mrs. Robert Heuck, letter of April 1979 (in NGA curatorial files) states In 1908 Mr. and Mrs. Ernest W. [sic] Huenefeld purchased the land [and the house and contents]. [4] Edward H. Dwight and Richard J. Boyle, Rediscovery Thomas Cole's 'Voyage of Life', _Art in America_ 55 (May 1967) 62. Rights CC0 Medium oil on canvas
