Destruction is the fourth in a series of five oil-on-canvas paintings entitled The Course of Empire, created by the American artist Thomas Cole between 1833 and 1836. The series, now in the collection of the New-York Historical Society, depicts the growth and fall of an imaginary city, situated at the lower end of a river valley. In this painting, a fleet of enemy vessels have sailed up the river, bringing warriors who have overthrown the city's defenses and are ransacking the city and killing and raping its inhabitants.Painting credit: Thomas Cole