The Peaceable Kingdom
Artist
Edward Hicks
(American, 1780–1849)
Dateabout 1833
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 44.5 × 60.2 cm (17 1/2 × 23 11/16 in.)
framed: 59.5 × 74.9 cm (23 7/16 × 29 1/2 in.)
framed: 59.5 × 74.9 cm (23 7/16 × 29 1/2 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1934.65
DescriptionPredominantly painted in earth tones with the lighter blues of water and sky showing in the background, the artwork is painted in a primitive style. There are thirteen animals and three children in the foreground. A lion is the central figure surrounded by a wolf, lamb, leopard, kid, three calves, a young lion, cow, bear, bear cub, and ox. The children are touching the animals or resting their hands over the animals’ dens. In the background are eight men in colonial garb and nine Native Americans. Two of the men are showing a long paper to four seated Native Americans, while another man is speaking to them.Label TextA skilled decorative painter, Hicks preached his Quaker ideology through his iconic Peaceable Kingdom, which he executed over sixty times. The theme of this work, drawn from verse by the biblical prophet Isaiah, uses a charming menagerie of beasts and children to connect Isaiah’s message of harmony with William Penn’s 1681 treaty with the Delaware Valley’s native population, the Lenape. Hicks believed the Quaker colonization of Pennsylvania (or Penn’s “Holy Experiment”) promoted friendly relations with the natives. However, any peaceful coexistence between both groups was short-lived: after years of European settlement and confiscation of Lenape homeland, by the 1700s, the Lenape had migrated westward and north to Canada.ProvenanceAmerican Folk Art Gallery, New York NY
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