Lot Essay
The subject of the Peaceable Kingdom is the prophecy of Isaiah (11:6) concerning the harmonious companionship among erstwhile enemies after Israel is delivered from Babylonian captivity; "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them." Hicks' composition can be directly connected to an earlier drawing by Richard Westall (1765-1836). Engravings of the drawing were available in Philadelphia after 1815, when it appeared in the Book of Common Prayer and Bible, where Hicks probably saw it. The painting was most likely the first in a series that has come to be called Peaceable Kingdoms with Banners and was painted sometime between 1827-1832. The mahogany frame is original, with Hicks' inscription, "Peacable [sic] Kingdom," at the bottom. Other similar paintings in the series can be found in the collections of Yale University and the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.
There are many differences among the more than sixty versions of the Peaceable Kingdom, but all of them depict the child, the pairings of the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the kid, and the calf (for Hicks, a cow or an oxen) and the lion. The differences can be found in the positions of the animals---they stand, stretch and turn around the landscapes, expand to include Penn's Treaty with the Indians, and contract to accommodate more animals and added children. Scholars have made much of the symbolism and iconography Hicks put into his paintings. In this version, the stout, defiant child grasps the lion and holds the bough of grapes (an emblem of salvation) as if it were a weapon. The leopard in the foreground stares at us with an expression of startled recognition, and the goat, trying to settle into a comfortable position around its neck, seems eternally poised between standing and sitting. The thirteen figures atop the mountain in the upper left represent Christ and the Apostles and the lettered banner which descends from them (aided by several angels) combines the Gospel of Luke and the Hicksite doctrine (Mind the light within).
This painting was made at the time of a bitter conflict within the Society of Friends. Edward Hicks' cousin Elias Hicks was a charismatic and popular Quaker preacher who with his followers, the Hicksites, withdrew from Quaker Orthodoxy amidst bitter accusations of heresy. The group of figures represents a pyramid of Hicksites, clothed in their traditional drab coats; among them several important individuals can be identified: Elias Hicks stands at the base of the pyramid, just outside the banner, hatless and in English riding boots (typical accoutrements of a traveling Friends' minister). In his left hand he holds a wet hankerchief, his zealous preaching often left him soaked with perspiration. The figure with the outstretched hands, standing next to him is probably George Washington. Although Washington played no part in the Quaker conflict, Edward Hicks revered him as a patriot and as the father of the country (Hicks was born into a Tory family, but became an impassioned American patriot in later life). At the top of the pyramid are three men important to the Quaker religion: Robert Barclay, with book in hand, the theological defender of the movement; William Penn, whose famous treaty with the Indians was the subject of many paintings by Edward Hicks; and with upraised arm, George Fox, the founder of Quakerism. Also included at the lower right are several hooded females, a symbol of the Quaker's high regard for women, many of whom served as preachers.
On a visit to the United States in 1931, the French painter Fernand Leger announced that Edward Hicks was a more significant artist than the French primitive painter, Henri Rousseau (1875-1933). Leger went on to say that Hicks' Peaceable Kingdom was the most important painting he had seen in this country. Leger shared an enthusiasm for folk art with his contemporaries in this country and with pioneering collectors, like Holger Cahill and his wife, Dorothy C. Miller, who, in the 1930's, acquired this Peaceable Kingdom found in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Holger Cahill, best known today as the National Director of the WPA Federal Art Project under FDR, was also an early proponent of American Modernism and Folk Art. In 1935, Dorothy Miller was hired by the Museum of Modern Art as their first professionally trained curator; she collaborated with Cahill on early Folk Art exhibitions, such as American Folk Sculpture held at the Newark Museum in 1931.
What undoubtedly attracted Miller and Cahill to this painting is the primitive directness that some of the later, more stylized Kingdoms lack. The original cherry frame with Hicks's own lettering was copied in several other versions of the same period, but is not found in the later Kingdoms. Here is Hicks at his most forthright. The two subjects of the painting---the Hicksites, who have suffered division and conflict, and the peaceful union of Nature's beasts---suggest a "kingdom" in peril. But Edward Hicks' narrative progresses from the discord of the Hicksites to the tranquility of the animals and child, and the artist's enduring optimism prevails. Although Hicks painted other subjects, his name has become synonymous with the Peaceable Kingdoms. Hicks appropriated a biblical theme and applied it to the controversies surrounding him in the 19th century. It is through the genius of his interpretation, that the concept of a "peaceable kingdom" acquires a timeless relevance.
A similar Peaceable Kingdom with inscribed frame is in the collection of the San Antonio Museum Association, and is illustrated in Alice Ford, Edward Hicks: His Life and Art (New York, 1985), p. 77.
Christie's gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Wendy Jeffers with this footnote.
There are many differences among the more than sixty versions of the Peaceable Kingdom, but all of them depict the child, the pairings of the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the kid, and the calf (for Hicks, a cow or an oxen) and the lion. The differences can be found in the positions of the animals---they stand, stretch and turn around the landscapes, expand to include Penn's Treaty with the Indians, and contract to accommodate more animals and added children. Scholars have made much of the symbolism and iconography Hicks put into his paintings. In this version, the stout, defiant child grasps the lion and holds the bough of grapes (an emblem of salvation) as if it were a weapon. The leopard in the foreground stares at us with an expression of startled recognition, and the goat, trying to settle into a comfortable position around its neck, seems eternally poised between standing and sitting. The thirteen figures atop the mountain in the upper left represent Christ and the Apostles and the lettered banner which descends from them (aided by several angels) combines the Gospel of Luke and the Hicksite doctrine (Mind the light within).
This painting was made at the time of a bitter conflict within the Society of Friends. Edward Hicks' cousin Elias Hicks was a charismatic and popular Quaker preacher who with his followers, the Hicksites, withdrew from Quaker Orthodoxy amidst bitter accusations of heresy. The group of figures represents a pyramid of Hicksites, clothed in their traditional drab coats; among them several important individuals can be identified: Elias Hicks stands at the base of the pyramid, just outside the banner, hatless and in English riding boots (typical accoutrements of a traveling Friends' minister). In his left hand he holds a wet hankerchief, his zealous preaching often left him soaked with perspiration. The figure with the outstretched hands, standing next to him is probably George Washington. Although Washington played no part in the Quaker conflict, Edward Hicks revered him as a patriot and as the father of the country (Hicks was born into a Tory family, but became an impassioned American patriot in later life). At the top of the pyramid are three men important to the Quaker religion: Robert Barclay, with book in hand, the theological defender of the movement; William Penn, whose famous treaty with the Indians was the subject of many paintings by Edward Hicks; and with upraised arm, George Fox, the founder of Quakerism. Also included at the lower right are several hooded females, a symbol of the Quaker's high regard for women, many of whom served as preachers.
On a visit to the United States in 1931, the French painter Fernand Leger announced that Edward Hicks was a more significant artist than the French primitive painter, Henri Rousseau (1875-1933). Leger went on to say that Hicks' Peaceable Kingdom was the most important painting he had seen in this country. Leger shared an enthusiasm for folk art with his contemporaries in this country and with pioneering collectors, like Holger Cahill and his wife, Dorothy C. Miller, who, in the 1930's, acquired this Peaceable Kingdom found in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Holger Cahill, best known today as the National Director of the WPA Federal Art Project under FDR, was also an early proponent of American Modernism and Folk Art. In 1935, Dorothy Miller was hired by the Museum of Modern Art as their first professionally trained curator; she collaborated with Cahill on early Folk Art exhibitions, such as American Folk Sculpture held at the Newark Museum in 1931.
What undoubtedly attracted Miller and Cahill to this painting is the primitive directness that some of the later, more stylized Kingdoms lack. The original cherry frame with Hicks's own lettering was copied in several other versions of the same period, but is not found in the later Kingdoms. Here is Hicks at his most forthright. The two subjects of the painting---the Hicksites, who have suffered division and conflict, and the peaceful union of Nature's beasts---suggest a "kingdom" in peril. But Edward Hicks' narrative progresses from the discord of the Hicksites to the tranquility of the animals and child, and the artist's enduring optimism prevails. Although Hicks painted other subjects, his name has become synonymous with the Peaceable Kingdoms. Hicks appropriated a biblical theme and applied it to the controversies surrounding him in the 19th century. It is through the genius of his interpretation, that the concept of a "peaceable kingdom" acquires a timeless relevance.
A similar Peaceable Kingdom with inscribed frame is in the collection of the San Antonio Museum Association, and is illustrated in Alice Ford, Edward Hicks: His Life and Art (New York, 1985), p. 77.
Christie's gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Wendy Jeffers with this footnote.