George Glazer Gallery. This print of The Voyage of Life - Youth, is from a series of four based on the original painting for the American Art Union in New York, dedicated to its members in 1849. In each painting the voyager, accompanied by a guardian angel, rides in a boat on the River of Life. The landscape, corresponding to the seasons of the year, plays a major role in telling the story. Few chips and short tears in margins, can be matted out.
Short tear intrudes into image, few scattered abrasions, all professionally restored.
Faint toning from knot hole of former backing in margin not obtrusive. Now the youth grabs the tiller firmly as the angel watches from the shore. The boy's enthusiasm and energy is evident in his forward-thrusting pose and billowing clothes. In the distance, a ghostly castle hovers in the sky, a white and shimmering beacon that represents the unattainable ambitions and dreams of man. To the youth, the calm river seems to lead straight to the castle, but at the far right of the painting one can just glimpse the river as it becomes rough, choppy, and full of rocks.