Artwork
The Peaceable Kingdom
The Peaceable Kingdom is an unspecified painting by the American Folk Art artist Edward Hicks. It dates from 1817 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Overview
Edward Hicks’s painting The Peaceable Kingdom, executed around 1817, is part of the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The work presents a tranquil riverside tableau in which a young boy in a red skirt stands barefoot, holding a staff and a small animal. Nearby a cow, a sheep, a goat and a wolf rest together, while a gentle sky and distant trees complete the serene composition.
Subject & Meaning
The scene juxtaposes human presence with a variety of domestic and wild animals, suggesting a vision of coexistence and harmony between people and nature. The boy’s staff and the calm demeanor of the wolf beside the farm animals evoke the biblical ideal of a peaceful kingdom where predators and prey share the same space without conflict.
Technique & Style
Hicks employs a modest palette of earth tones and soft blues, rendering the figures with a naïve, folk‑art sensibility. The brushwork is straightforward, emphasizing clear outlines over detailed modeling. The composition is balanced by the placement of the boy in the foreground and the animals arranged along the riverbank, creating a calm, almost dream‑like atmosphere.
History & Provenance
Created in the early nineteenth century, The Peaceable Kingdom reflects Hicks’s lifelong interest in religious allegory. The painting entered the Cleveland Museum of Art’s holdings through acquisition in the twentieth century, joining a broader collection of American folk art that highlights the period’s moral and spiritual concerns.
Context
Hicks, a Quaker minister, often used pastoral scenes to illustrate his theological beliefs. This work aligns with his series of “Peaceable Kingdom” paintings, which reinterpret the prophetic vision of Isaiah’s utopia. The inclusion of a wolf among domesticated animals underscores the artist’s hope for reconciliation between humanity’s spiritual aspirations and the natural world.
Artist & collection
Artist
Edward Hicks spent his life caught between two worlds. A Quaker preacher by Sunday and a painter by weekdays, he painted signs and carriages to support his family while quietly building a body of peaceful, crowded…
