Penn's Treaty with the Indians

c. 1840/1844

Edward Hicks

Artist, American, 1780 - 1849

Eight pale-skinned men and thirteen brown-skinned, indigenous Lenape men, women, and a baby gather on a grassy field close to us in this horizontal painting. The white men are cleanshaven and have puffy gray, shoulder-length hair. Most wear black tricorn hats, and they all wear coats, vests, and pants in shades of tan, gray, red, brown, and white. An unfurled scroll in the middle of this group reaches from shoulder to calf, and most of the word “Pennsylvania” is legible there. Two bareheaded men kneel in front of the Lenape, holding a bolt of red cloth. The Lenape men wear black, red, and white feathered headdresses and gold earrings. Some are bare-chested and others wear furs or other garments in black or white. Three men are seated and look at the group of white men beyond the bolt of cloth. Others stand and look on, as two women and a baby sit in a trio to our left, under a tree. The women wear beaded headdresses and wear white or blue. One of the seated Lanape men holds a long, white clay pipe that spouts smoke from the short bowl. A bow and a quiver with arrows lies on the ground nearby. All the people are painted simply with large eyes, rounded lips, and oversized noses. To our right of the whole group, a pale-skinned man sits on a wooden chest with one foot resting on another chest. A second man there leans on another box or piece of furniture, and both look to our left. The grass slopes gently down to an ivory-white body of water in the distance. White and Lenape men meet near the shoreline. A boat carries seven people between us and a long white, two-storied building on the far shore. The sky above is pale pink along the horizon with wispy white clouds kicking up under an ice-blue band of sky along the top edge of the canvas. Closer to us, the grassy plateau ends with a shallow, rocky ledge. Text painted in a gold-brown field below the scene reads, “PENNS TREATY with the INDIANS, made 1681 with out an Oath, and never broken. The foundation of Religious and Civil LIBERTY, in the U.S. of AMERICA.” The surface of the canvas is cracked in some areas and is especially noticeable in the sky.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
Information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Naive Paintings, pages 189-191, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/public189-191, ations/pdfs/American%20Naive%20Painting.pdf
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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Recorded as from Pennsylvania. Elie Nadelman, until 1943;[1] (M. Knoedler and Co., New York); sold 1944 to Joseph Katz, New York; sold 1947 to (M. Knoedler and Co., New York); sold 1947 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Pokety Farms, Cambridge, Maryland; bequest 1980 to NGA.
[1] Sculptor Elie Nadelman began collecting art after his marriage in 1920 to the wealthy widow, Viola Flannery.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1954

  • American Primitive Paintings from the Colleciton of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Part I, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1954, no. 77.

1955

  • American Primitive Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1955.

1957

  • American Primitive Paintings from the Colleciton of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Part II, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1957, not included in cat.

1968

  • American Naive Paintings of the 18th and 19th Centuries: 111 Masterpieces from the Collection of E. W. and B. C. Garbisch, traveling exh. by Amer. Fed. of Arts, N.Y., 1968-1970, no. 66, color repro. First venue: Grand Palais, Paris.

1970

  • The New World: 1620-1970, Chrysler Museum of Art, Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1970, no. 14.

1975

  • Edward Hicks, a Gentle Spirit, Andrew Crispo Gallery, New York, 1975, no. 31.

1978

  • The American Folk Art Tradition: Paintings from the Garbisch Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978.

1985

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, traveling exh. by the International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, 1985-1987, no. 34, color repro. First venue: Museum of American Folk Art, New York.

1988

  • La Nascita di Una Nazione: Pittori americani dalla National Gallery of Art di Washington 1730-1880, Palazzo Pepoli Campogrande, Bologna; Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna di Ca'Pesaro, Venice, 1988-1989, no. 34, repro.

1993

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, 1993-1994.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Savannah, Georgia, 1993.

1994

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Heckscher Museum, Huntington, New York, 1994.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Louisiana Arts and Science Center, Baton Rouge, 1994-1995.

1995

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Pensacola Museum of Art, Florida, 1995.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), McKissick Museum, Columbia, South Carolina, 1995.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), St. John's Museum of Art, Wilmington, North Carolina, 1995-1996.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Boise Art Museum, Idaho, 1995.

1996

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California, 1996.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Maier Museum of Art, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg, Virginia, 1996.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1996.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainseville, 1996-1997.

1997

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, 1997.

1998

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut, 1998.

2001

  • American Folk Art Masters, The Mennello Museum of American Folk Art, Orlando, 2001-2002, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1941

  • Brinton, Ellen Starr. "Benjamin West's Painting of Penn's Treaty with the Indians." Bulletin of the Friends' Historical Association 30 (Autumn 1941): 99-189.

1951

  • Held, Julius. "Edward Hicks and the Tradition." The Art Quarterly 14 (Summer 1951): 122, 125, 133.

1952

  • Ford, Alice. Edward Hicks, Painter of the Peaceable Kingdom. Philadelphia, 1952: xii, 41, 43, 66, 121, 141.

1975

  • Parry, Ellwood. "Edward Hicks and a Quaker Iconography." Arts Magazine 49 (June 1975): 93.

1976

  • Ayres, James. "Edward Hicks and His Sources." Antiques 109 (February 1976): 368.

  • Sellers, Charles Coleman. Symbols of Peace: William Penn's Treaty with the Indians. Philadelphia, 1976.

1983

  • Mather, Eleanore Price. Edward Hicks: His Peaceable Kingdoms and Other Paintings. Newark, Delaware, 181, no. 92.

1985

  • Ford, Alice. Edward Hicks, His Life and Art. New York, 1985: color repro. 199.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 88, repro.

1992

  • Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 189-191, repro. 190.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 201, repro.

1998

  • Ford, Alice. Edward Hicks, Painter of the Peaceable Kingdom. Philadelphia, 1998: 41-43, 66, repro. 141.

Inscriptions

across bottom: PENNS TREATY with the INDIANS, made 1681 with / out an Oath, and never broken. The foundation of / Religious and Civil LIBERTY, in the U.S. of AMERICA.; on treaty: PENNSYLV[ANIA]

Wikidata ID

Q20186816

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