The Savage State, Thomas Cole.
Part of the series "The Course of Empire".
The first painting, The Savage State, shows the valley from the shore opposite the crag, in the dim light of a dawning stormy day. A hunter clad in skins hastens through the wilderness, pursuing a deer; canoes paddle up the river; on the far shore can be seen a clearing with a cluster of tipis around a fire, the nucleus of the city that is to be. The visual references are those of aboriginal North American life. This painting depicts the ideal state of the natural world. It is a healthy world, unchanged by humanity.
