A lone figure stands, praying in a golden boat with an angel on the prow. The boat is headed for a waterfall between cliffs and the sky is dark and stormy apart from a halo of light surrounding a white angel in the clouds.

In 1839, the prominent New York banker and philanthropist Samuel Ward Sr. commissioned Thomas Cole to paint an allegorical series of four paintings titled "The Voyage of Life," synthesizing three ideas: life is a pilgrimage; a person's life can be divided into four distinct stages; and the course of a person's life can be metaphorically compared to a journey on a river that winds its way through a magical landscape. The series includes "Childhood," "Youth," "Manhood," and "Old Age."