This is a wonderful theorem watercolor I picked up at a tag sale recently. I have the perfect antique frame for it. My mother is going to love this Christmas present! It is based on The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks (very fitting since this is our family name).
Peaceable Kingdom, ca. 1830–32Edward Hicks (American, 1780–1849)
Oil on canvas; 17 7/8 x 23 7/8 in.
Edward Hicks, a Quaker preacher and sign painter, painted approximately sixty versions of the Peaceable Kingdom. The painting represents the messianic prophecy of Isaiah 11:6: "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." The presence of additional animals and children on the left is due to Hicks' inclusion of the seventh and eighth verses. Hicks derived the composition, a popular nineteenth-century Bible illustration, from an engraving after a drawing by the English artist Richard Westall. The theme of a peaceable community of animals was one often used as a political metaphor, and was adapted by Hicks himself. The artist sometimes included scenes of Penn's treaty with the Indians, intending Penn's flock to stand as a sort of partial fulfillment of the biblical prophecy. Image: Metropolitan Museum of Art
