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8026
EDWARD HICKS
Pennsylvania, 1780-1849
"Peaceable Kingdom" with Rhymed Borders, circa 1825.
Depicts an ox and other animals observing a diaphanously clad Divine Child holding a branch and petting a lion in a distinctly American yet Edenic landscape. In the background William Penn is negotiating his storied treaty with the Lenni Lenape tribe under the shade of an elm tree. Bordered with "The wolf did with the lamkin dwell in peace His grim carniv'rous passion there did cease, The leopard with the harmless kid laid down And not one savage beast was seen to frown, The lion with the fatling on did move A little child was leading them in love, When the great Penn his famous treaty made With indian chiefs beneath the elm-tree's shade.". Each corner block with a dove, a recumbent lamb and banners "Innocence", "Meekness" and "Liberty" in English, French, Latin and Greek. Inscribed verso "Edw Hicks painter for his dear coursin [sic] Mary W. Hicks, New York" and stamped for canvas maker Sam Conrad (not currently visible but photographed prior to lining in October 1964).
Oil on canvas, 30" x 36". Framed 32" x 38".
Condition: The absence of a condition report does not imply an object is free of defects. All items may have normal signs of age and wear commensurate with their age; these issues will likely not be mentioned in the condition report. Please contact Eldred's
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Provenance:
The artist to his cousin Mary W. Hicks, wife of Hicksite Quaker Edward Lawrence of Lawrence, Long Island, New York, thence by descent to:
Hortense Howland Dixon, great-granddaughter of Edward Lawrence, of Lawrence, New York and Old Lyme, Connecticut;
Penelope Dixon Randolph, granddaughter of Hortense Howland Dixon, Manchester, Massachusetts.
Eddy Nicholson, Hampton, New Hampshire, December 12, 1986.
Marguerite Riordan, Stonington, Connecticut, 1990.
Acquired from Marguerite Riordan, February 11, 1991.
The Collection of Nancy & Larry Dickson.
Accompanied by a photocopy of an August 16, 1990 letter from Penelope D. Randolph providing her personal recollections of the painting and its provenance within her family until she sold it to Eddy Nicholson in 1986. -
Exhibited:
Andrew Crispo Gallery, New York: "Edward Hicks: A Gentle Spirit", May 16-June 28, 1975.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1980.
Reference:
Edward Hicks: His "Peaceable Kingdoms" and Other Paintings by Eleanor Price Mather and Dorothy Canning Miller (East Brunswick, N.J.: Associated University Presses, Inc., 1983), p. 101, plate no. 8.
Edward Hicks: His Life and Art by Alice Ford (N.Y.: Abbeville Press, 1985), p. 58-61.
The Kingdoms of Edward Hicks by Carolyn J. Weekley (N.Y.: Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, et al, 1999), plate 97.
Illustrated:
"The Winter Antiques Show - More Beautiful, More Drama" by Lita Solis-Cohen, "Maine Antique Digest", March 1991. The caption notes the painting is being viewed in Marguerite Riordan's booth by Marilyn Quayle, wife of then-Vice President Dan Quayle.
Condition note:
This work was conserved in 1964 by Carolyn and Sheldon Keck, founders of the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, and was the subject of a careful condition examination in 2012 by Tom Yost of Yost Conservation, Oxford, Connecticut. The work was found to be in pristine condition. Photocopies of Yost's report are included with the lot.
Notes:
There are 62 versions of this iconic image painted by Edward Hicks, a Quaker artist trained as a sign painter. (He also painted 14 versions of "Penn's Treaty".) This work, which shows the child with animals in the foreground, William Penn and the American Natives in the distance, and retains its original rhyming border, is one of 13 in the early group of "Peaceable Kingdoms" as classified by Carolyn J. Weekley. It is in a remarkable state of preservation and has a history of ownership in the artist's family until it was acquired by collector Eddy Nicholson.
The record price for the subject was achieved in 2006 when "The Peaceable Kingdom with the Leopard of Serenity" was sold for $9.6 million at Sotheby's New York. That work, one of the later examples, was owned by collector Ralph Esmerian and was a promised gift to the Museum of American Folk Art prior to its sale. A handful of other examples have sold publicly and privately over the past ten years. This one is closest in date to a version sold privately for Randolph College by Christie's for just over $3 million. The Randolph College painting has not survived in nearly the same condition as this example and is slightly smaller in scale.
It is important to note most "Peaceable Kingdoms" are now in public collections or in private collections that are slated for institution accession. This painting is one of the last great works still in private hands.
According to legend, Chief Tamanend of the Lenape told Penn "We will live in love with William Penn and his children as long as the creeks and rivers run, and while the sun, moon and stars endure." Hicks echoes this promise in this Peaceable Kingdom -- "A little child was leading them in love" -- a sentiment that still comforts and inspires and remains timelessly relevant 200 years later.
Lot essay courtesy of Emily C. Esser, American Folk Art Specialist and webmaster of www.paintingsworthlookingat.com:
What draws us to the Peaceable Kingdom? The answer may vary. As Edward Hicks changed with the passage of years, so, too, did his masterpiece. The early idyllic scenes are charmingly calm, packed with beautiful landscape elements and quiet motifs of harmony. The later Kingdoms are delightfully hectic, filling the canvas, packing in more and more animals in a chaotic menagerie. Each new Peaceable Kingdom reinvented the concept in some way. The final works in the series are more quiet and diminutive; the animals lie in repose near the bottom of the canvas, joined by the children. The sense of tranquility from his earliest Kingdoms is restored, coming full circle. One might, therefore, be drawn to a particular period, or simply admire the astonishing range that the artist realized from a single subject.
Despite this variety, six symbolic figures appear in every single Peaceable Kingdom. They are drawn from the Biblical prophecy of Isaiah, which Hicks has hand-lettered in the border of this painting. The wolf and lamb are cozily snuggled together; the leopard and goat are at ease in each other's company; and the placid cow stands beside the loving, respectful lion, which acts as a tame guardian for the child. Later, as Hicks's creative ambition grew and flourished, many more creatures and children would join the group, but this came at the cost of muddying the visual clarity of the metaphor. The earlier variations, such as the present composition, have only the quintessential elements, letting Hicks's original message shine through.
This particular Kingdom dates to that early phase of Hicks's series. Among that group, it stands out. It surpasses the expected charms of folk art styles to offer an astonishingly sophisticated version of the "Divine Child", as Hicks's central child figure is known. Marguerite Riordan described this as "the outstanding Peaceable Kingdom" for good reason. In subject matter, technique and condition, it is one of the finest Kingdoms to ever come available for sale. Alice Ford, renowned for her scholarship on Hicks, also thought it unusually good. She wrote, "For [the child's] exceptional grace, executed by Hicks with quite unusual success, he was indebted to a fortunate choice of models…" and compared the delicate figure to the drapery of ancient Greco-Roman sculpture.
In the background, Hicks depicts the native Lenape people making their truce with William Penn, the renowned Quaker. This scene was famously portrayed by Benjamin West, in one of his masterpieces, and was simplified to its essentials by Hicks, repeated over and over throughout the Kingdoms. The Penn-Lenape peace treaty, like so many of the consistent motifs, was a preoccupation for the deeply spiritual Hicks. These recurring scenes and designs, which he constantly reinvented, must have spoken to him, as the Kingdoms speak to us. He has even immortalized it in verse, writing in the painted border: "When the great PENN his famous treaty made, With indian chiefs beneath the elm-tree's shade.".
An especially touching story regarding that inscription is relayed in a letter by Hicks family descendant Penelope D. Randolph. This painting hung in her room as a small girl growing up. "...I taught myself to read by picking out the letters in the verses around the picture. The capital letters PENN ('When the great PENN his famous treaty made...') are the first four letters of my name (Penny, from Penelope) and in my vivid childhood imagination, I became that child in the painting, surrounded by wild animals, yet 'leading them in love'. I remember making a cave of pillows in my bed at night and being 'guarded' by all my stuffed animals as I fell asleep, the 'great PENN' with her loving beasts.".
It is easy to place this painting in the Hicks timeline. Only one other exactly similar Kingdom is known to us: the first solidly dated version, which is inscribed 1826 in Hicks's own hand. Ours was sent to his "dear cousin" Mary W. Hicks, while the 1826 work was painted for "Dear Cousin Sarah". (For this gift, Edward's grateful cousin Silas, husband of the aforementioned Sarah, sent the artist $100!) The two works might even have been painted consecutively. Sarah's copy of the Kingdom lacks several details seen here in Mary's version, like the towering ship, and the gracefully touching tree branches that form an arch, a motif that appears in a few other Kingdoms. Might Hicks have intended it as a metaphor of extending a branch of peace? Or was he just experimenting with composition? Despite all we know about Hicks, the inner workings of his creative process are still unknown. Perhaps that is part of the fun of the Peaceable Kingdoms: deciphering what it all means.
Although he was a professional ornamental painter, Hicks's surviving account books do not mention the Peaceable Kingdom series. Silas's gift of $100 suggests Hicks could have found financial success with his Kingdoms if he desired. But Hicks's passion for easel paintings conflicted with conventional Quaker sensibilities, which discouraged frivolity. This was exacerbated by the Quaker schisms in which Edward was embroiled by proxy, supporting his controversial cousin Elias. Consequently, unlike the affectionate, amiable early Kingdoms, a sense of tension pervades the subsequent Kingdoms, reflecting conflict and, eventually, grief. But the Peaceable Kingdom series continued onward all the same. It was a throughline in Hicks's remarkable life until the very end.
The dozens of resulting masterworks – no two exactly alike – represent the overflowing creative outbursts of a man, gifted and conflicted, who painted for self-expression and so much more. They were given to family and loved ones, compelled by principle and an overpowering yearning to create. The humble Hicks could not have imagined his work would be so unanimously revered; but he might be glad to know how far his message has spread.
Recommended further reading: the essential scholarship on Hicks, all of which address this specific Kingdom:
Eleanore Price Mather and Dorothy Canning Miller, "Edward Hicks, His Peaceable Kingdoms And Other Paintings" (1983); see p. 99-100 (illus.) https://archive.org/details/edwardhickshispe00math/page/99/mode/2up
Alice Ford, "Edward Hicks: His Life And Art" (1985); see p. 59-61 (illus.) https://archive.org/details/edwardhickshisli0000ford/page/58/mode/2up
Carolyn J. Weekley, "The Kingdoms of Edward Hicks" (1999); see p. 93, 106-107 (illus.), 109. https://archive.org/details/kingdomsofedward0000week/page/106/mode/2up
More reading, for those still getting acquainted with Hicks:
"A Peaceable Season" by Edward Hicks and Eleanore Price Mather (1973), a concise and easily digestible overview of Hicks's work, interspersed with his own words: https://archive.org/details/peaceableseason0000hick/mode/2up
"A Dream of Peace: Edward Hicks of Newton" by Edna S. Pullinger (1973), a lively, enjoyable primary source-based biography of Hicks: https://archive.org/details/dreamofpeaceedwa0000pull/mode/2up
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