Edward Hicks (American, 1780-1849) Peaceable Kingdom, ca. 1848 Oil on canvas, 23 7/8 x 31 7/8" James G. Forsyth Fund, 1940

You may notice a few strange things about this painting by Edward Hicks. Certainly adults have told you not to play around wild animals! Yet, in this painting one small child pats the head of a wild cat, and another puts his hand in the hole of a poisonous snake. Lions normally don't eat straw, and wolves usually eat sheep, not lie down to rest with them! But in Hicks's world, all live together safely and peacefully. The world that Hicks creates in this painting is actually described in the Bible's Book of Isaiah (your teacher can read it to you). Isaiah describes the coming of a "peaceable kingdom" on earth, where all animals and humans live contentedly side-by-side.

There is another scene in the left background, one that is not in the Bible. William Penn, a famous early settler in the New World, lands with his ships and men and is greeted by a group of Native Americans. They are holding a piece of paper that Hicks meant to symbolize the peace treaty that actually was signed between the two groups after Penn arrived in 1682. Can you guess which state is named after William PENN? Hicks was from the same state and he believed that Penn's treaty with the Native Americans was an historical step towards the coming of the peaceable kingdom. The painting is optimistic, reflecting a belief that people can solve their problems, both within themselves and with others. The beautiful sunrise in the background reflects the arrival of a new day, symbolic of a new beginning for the world.

Hicks was a Quaker minister and was extremely fond of this theme. He is said to have painted more than one hundred Peaceable Kingdoms between about 1820 and 1849, when he died. About fifty of them still survive today. They were usually given as gifts or painted for relatives, neighbors, and friends who commissioned them.