Edward Hicks

1780 - 1849 • American • Painter • Fantasy/Folk Art

"... how awful the consideration: I have nothing to depend on but the mercy and forgiveness of God, for I have no works of righteousness of my own. I am nothing but a poor old worthless insignificant painter." - Edward Hicks

Hicks was a Quaker minister who decorated carriages and made signs as well as the paintings for which he is famous: numerous renderings of the Peaceable Kingdom. These illustrate a passage from Isaiah: "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the young lion and the fading together; and a little child shall lead them." Hicks repeated this theme in a number of settings and alternative groupings, but always with great sensitivity and charm, in the style of FOLK ART. His lament, quoted above, was written toward the end of his life.