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Catalog Data

Artist:
Thomas Hicks, 18 Oct 1823 - 8 Oct 1890  Search this
Sitter:
Edward Hicks, 4 Apr 1780 - 23 Aug 1849  Search this
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
Stretcher: 91.4 x 73.7 x 3.8cm (36 x 29 x 1 1/2")
Frame: 114.3 x 96.5 x 7.6cm (45 x 38 x 3")
Type:
Painting
Date:
1839
Exhibition Label:
Born Attleboro, Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Edward Hicks was a Quaker minister who supplemented his income through sign and coach painting. In middle age, he began making more ambitious pictures, expressing his sense of patriotism through depictions of significant events in American history and his spiritual beliefs through imaginative scenes of paradise on earth. Here, his cousin Thomas Hicks portrays him at work on one of the hundred or so versions of “The Peaceable Kingdom” that he painted between 1820 and the night before his death in 1849. The pacifist theme is inspired by the prophecy in the Old Testament’s book of Isaiah: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid.”
A self-taught artist, Hicks sold, bartered, or gave away his paintings to neighbors in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. His works were little known until the 1930s; they have since become recognizable icons featured in major museums.
Nacido en Attleboro, Bucks County, Pensilvania
El ministro cuáquero Edward Hicks complementaba sus ingresos pintando letreros y carruajes. En su madurez comenzó a crear pinturas más ambiciosas, plasmando su sentido de patriotismo con imágenes de eventos importantes en la historia de EE.UU. y sus creencias espirituales con escenas imaginativas de un paraíso terrenal. Aquí, su primo Thomas Hicks lo muestra trabajando en una de las casi 100 versiones de “El reino pacífico” que pintó entre 1820 y la víspera de su muerte en 1849. El tema pacifista proviene de una profecía del Libro de Isaías, en el Antiguo Testamento: “El lobo vivirá con el cordero, el leopardo se echará con el cabrito”.
Artista autodidacto, Hicks vendía, intercambiaba o regalaba sus pinturas entre sus vecinos de Bucks County, Pensilvania. Poco conocidas hasta la década de 1930, sus obras se han convertido en íconos célebres y figuran en museos importantes.
Provenance:
(Hirschl & Adler, New York); purchased 1988 NPG
The provenance given by Hirschl & Adler: The Artist; his cousin, Edward Hicks, by 1839; his daughter, Susan Hicks Carle; her son, John J Carle; his son, Edward Hicks Carle, Charlottesville, Va.; her son, John J. Carle, II, Keswick, Va. until 1987
Topic:
Printed Material\Book  Search this
Costume\Dress Accessory\Eyeglasses  Search this
Interior\Studio\Art  Search this
Art implements\Palette  Search this
Art implements\Paintbrush  Search this
Art implements\Canvas  Search this
Art implements\Easel  Search this
Edward Hicks: Male  Search this
Edward Hicks: Visual Arts\Artist\Painter\Landscape painter  Search this
Edward Hicks: Visual Arts\Art instructor  Search this
Edward Hicks: Visual Arts\Artist\Religious artist  Search this
Edward Hicks: Visual Arts\Artist\Painter\History painter  Search this
Portrait  Search this
Credit Line:
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Object number:
NPG.88.53
Restrictions & Rights:
CC0
See more items in:
National Portrait Gallery Collection
Exhibition:
Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900
On View:
NPG, East Gallery 132
Data Source:
National Portrait Gallery
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm4e9b7376d-6a37-466f-ab2b-5263f0443efa
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:npg_NPG.88.53