Artwork
The Landing of Columbus
The Landing of Columbus is an oil painting by the American Folk Art artist Edward Hicks. It dates from 1837 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:bottom center: COLUMBUS
About this work
Technique & Style
The handling reflects the artist’s characteristic folk style, with flat, decorative figures and a restrained palette dominated by earth tones and muted greens.
Edward Hicks’s _The Landing of Columbus_ (1837) is an oil painting on canvas measuring 45 × 60 cm. The handling reflects the artist’s characteristic folk style, with flat, decorative figures and a restrained palette dominated by earth tones and muted greens. Compositionally, the scene is arranged in horizontal bands, with Columbus and his crew positioned centrally beneath a prominent tree, emphasizing narrative clarity over spatial recession. Stylistic traits include precise outlines, hierarchical scale, and a didactic arrangement that prioritizes legibility over naturalistic modeling, consistent with Hicks’s Quaker-influenced aesthetic.
The paint is applied in smooth, even layers without visible impasto, and the canvas support remains structurally stable, with no reported issues of cupping or flaking in institutional records.
History & Provenance
Edward Hicks completed this oil on canvas in 1837, originally painting it for the family of William Janney in Newtown, Pennsylvania. Following her marriage, Mary Janney transported the work south, likely to Loudon County, Virginia. The piece later entered the possession of a family in Silver Spring, Maryland, via a donor from the Goose Creek Meeting.
In the twentieth century, the painting passed through the Philadelphia dealer Robert Carlen before being acquired by Edith Gregor Halpert of the Downtown Gallery in New York. M. Knoedler and Co. purchased the work in 1945, selling it shortly after to collector Joseph Katz. Knoedler repurchased the canvas in 1947 and sold it to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch.
Upon Bernice Chrysler Garbisch's death in 1980, the painting was bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The Landing of Columbus is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It entered the museum’s collection by bequest in 1980 from Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch. The work was previously owned by the family of William Janney in Newtown, Pennsylvania, and passed through several dealers before that bequest, including sales to M. Knoedler and Co. and to Joseph Katz. The National Gallery of Art’s catalogue records the painting’s accession as part of its collection, though no exhibition history is documented in the sources consulted.
Overview
Edward Hicks's oil painting, The Landing of Columbus, completed around 1837, captures a pivotal historical moment. This canvas depicts Christopher Columbus's arrival on a new shore, surrounded by both natural elements and human figures. The work is characterized by its detailed rendering of the scene, reflecting a careful approach to historical narrative through art.
Subject & Meaning
The painting vividly portrays Christopher Columbus stepping onto an unfamiliar coastline, met by indigenous inhabitants and the dense foliage of the new world. Hicks imbues the composition with a sense of dynamism; figures are shown in motion, and even the trees appear to sway, contributing to an overall impression of energetic activity. This dramatic rendering emphasizes the momentous nature of the encounter.
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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…
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