A Quaker Vision of Peace
Edward Hicks’ Peaceable Kingdom Paintings:
Above: Peaceable Kingdom, by Edward Hicks, ca. 1834. This painting sold for $9.67 million at a Sotheby’s auction in 2008. Image source: Antiques and the Arts Weekly
Above: Edward Hicks Painting the Peaceable Kingdom, by Thomas Hicks, ca. 1839. Image source: National Portrait Gallery
Edward Hicks is best known for his series of Peaceable Kingdom paintings. Beginning in the 1820s, he produced more than 60 versions of this work. Hicks’ paintings reflect his Quaker belief in peace and the possibility of a just society. Today, the Peaceable Kingdom paintings are celebrated for their spiritual depth and are icons of American folk art.
Edward Hicks’ Home in Newtown:
Edward Hicks built this sandstone house in Newtown, Bucks County, in 1821. Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus.
Hicks set up his sign-painting shop in his carriage house, where local customers soon came regularly to commission signs. Hicks lived in Newtown until his death in 1849 and was buried in the Friends graveyard.
Lambs Fear No Lions
In Hicks’ Peaceable Kingdoms:
“…And not one savage beast be seen to frown;…”
The text about savage beasts, above, is a line from the poem Edward Hicks painted around the borders of several of his Peaceable Kingdom paintings. Image source: National Gallery of Art.
Above: Image source: Christie’s.
A Memorial Memento Lamb for Edward Hicks
Left at the Doorstep of his Home in Newtown:
A lamb for Edward Hicks.
Across the Street:
The 1833 Home of Edward Hicks’ Son:
Edward and Catherine Hicks’ only son, Isaac Worstall Hicks, built this sandstone house across the street from his parents in 1833. Edward Hicks taught his son the sign-painting business. They were in business together as “Edward Hicks and Son” in the 1830s and 1840s. Isaac Hicks lived here with his wife Hannah (Penrose) Hicks. Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus.
Edward Hicks’ Paintings
of Farms in Bucks County:
