The Peaceable Kingdom

Gallery 107, American Art, first floor (Johnson Gallery)

Main Building

The Peaceable Kingdom

1826

Edward Hicks (American, 1780–1849)

Edward Hicks supported himself as a sign painter and itinerant preacher, but usually made his easel pictures, including some sixty versions of The Peaceable Kingdom, as gifts for friends and family. This early example includes an orthodox Christian symbol of a child holding a grapevine, representing atonement. Hicks developed his imagery from Bibles used in the United States at the time and from the book of Isaiah, using the peacefulness of animals as a metaphor for the Quaker doctrine of human submission to the Christ Spirit.

Gallery 107, American Art, first floor (Johnson Gallery)

Object Details

Title:

The Peaceable Kingdom

Date:

1826

Artist:

Edward Hicks (American, 1780–1849)

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

32 7/8 x 41 3/4 inches (83.5 x 106 cm) Framed: 34 3/8 x 43 1/2 x 3 inches (87.3 x 110.5 x 7.6 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Bequest of Charles C. Willis, 1956

Accession Number:

1956-59-1

Geography:

Made in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America

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Gallery 107, American Art, first floor (Johnson Gallery)

Main Building

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