Peaceable Kingdom
Edward Hicks·c. 1834
Historical Context
Hicks's Peaceable Kingdom, painted around 1834, is one of approximately 62 versions of this subject that he produced over his lifetime. Based on Isaiah 11:6 — "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb" — the Peaceable Kingdom was Hicks's most personal and obsessive subject, reflecting his Quaker longing for universal peace and his anguish over divisions within the Society of Friends. Each version subtly varied the arrangement of animals and the background scene of Penn's Treaty.
Technical Analysis
Hicks's oil-on-canvas technique arranges the wild and domestic animals in a carefully balanced composition, with faces that often seem to express human emotions. The rich, warm palette and smooth, decorative handling give the fantastic subject a convincing material presence.
Provenance
Given by the artist in 1834 to Joseph Foulke [d. 1836], Three Tuns, Pennsylvania. Thomas Foulke, Ambler, Pennsylvania, his great-grandson. (Robert Carlen, Philadelphia); sold 1949 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; bequest 1980 to NGA.
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