Falls of Niagara Fireboard

Date1825-1826

Attributed to Edward Hicks (1780-1849)

OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania, Bucks County

MediumOil on tulip poplar panel

DimensionsUnframed: 37 x 43 1/2in. (94 x 110.5cm); Sight within integral frame: 32 9/16 x 39 1/8in. (82.7 x 99.4cm); Pictorial Composition: 21 1/2 x 28 3/4in. (54.6 x 73cm); and Framed: 37 13/16in. x 44 1/2 in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1959.102.3

DescriptionA horizontally formatted pictorial composition bounded on all four sides by borders painted directly onto the primary support and, beyond these, an applied frame nailed directly onto the face of the panel primary support. Simple, narrow strip molding is nailed into the sides of the primary support to create an outermost handling edge.
In the center of the pictorial composition, extensive waterfalls stretch across much of the scene, with a gnarled and blasted tree occupying the far left side. An eagle perches in the tree, a moose and beaver stand at its base, and a rattlesnake is shown in the foreground not far away. Figures of two men are visible near the base of the falls, and a bank with a tree and other vegetation creates a visual "frame" on the right side. Water vapor rises from the base of the falls, forming white "clouds". A gold band encloses the picture. Gold lettering appears in each of the four borders outside the pictorial composition; two lines appear in each border. Lettering also appears on the upper member of the nailed-on, applied framing.

The applied frame, including the narrow, outermost molding nailed into the sides, measures 2 5/8-inches wide. The lower member is clearly a modern replacement; the side members may be also, but the top member, which bears the title lettering, is believed original. The outermost molding is a simple black-painted bead; the inner elements are painted green and brown.

Oil painting on panel with a border painted brownish green with verses lettered in gold around the four sides. On the outside of this painted border is another painted border or frame with the title painted in gold above the picture. The scene is of the Niagara falls in the background with a great billow of mist rising from the bottom of the falls on the right. To the left foreground is a large oak tree with autumnal leaves. An eagle sits on a limb in the tree and a moose and beaver and rattlesnake are in the foreground below it. Figures of men are seen walking down the bank towards the water on the right right side. Another smaller tree is on the right, and a small plant is in foreground center.
Label TextThis is one of two extant, similar fireboards painted by Edward Hicks, the other being owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The two panels share the same border text at top and left; the lines at the bottom of the Folk Art Museum's version appear on the right of the Metropolitan' painting which has two different lines at the bottom. The texts derive from "The Forresters" by noted ornithologist Alexander Wilson, a poem that was reprinted in a Newtown, Pennsylvania, newspaper in 1818.

Hicks visited Niagara Falls in 1819-1820 while preaching and visiting Friends meetings in the area. The great natural wonder was widely admired for various reasons; typically, Hicks regarded it as an inspiring manifestation of God's handiwork.

The pictorial composition derives from the right side of the cartouche on a map of North America that was engraved by Henry S. Tanner and published in Philadelphia in 1822. (The left side of the cartouche, showing Virginia's Natural Bridge, guided Hicks in other paintings of his; several of his Kingdoms include the prominent landscape feature, including the Folk Art Museum's acc. no. 1967.101.)

The Musem's fireboard was created for Dr. Joseph Parrish (1779-1840) of Philadelphia, a fellow Friend, and it is believed that Hicks gave it to the physician in thanks for his services. Hicks's _Memoirs_, pp. 118-120, record an instance in which Dr. Parrish journeyed out to Newtown to attend members of Hicks's family. Hicks wrote that when he tried to pay Parrish, the doctor replied, "No, my dear friend, I cannot take thy money. It was not money induced me to come, but sympathy and love for thee and thy afflicted family."

InscribedThe verses in gold paint in the borders read: [left] "With uproar hideous, first the Falls appear,/The stunning tumult thundering on the ear."; [top] "Above, below, where'er the astonished eye/Turns to behold, new opening wonders lie,"; [right] "There the broad river, like a lake outspread,/The islands, rapids, falls, in grandeur dread,"; [bottom] "This great, o'erwhelming work of awful Time,/In all its dread magnificence, sublime."
The original frame is lettered across the top member in gold: "FALLS OF NIAGARA."
ProvenanceDr. Joseph Parrish (1779-1840) of Philadelphia, Pa.; to a relative, Miss Helen Parrish, Philadelphia, Pa.; sold to Dr. Arthur Edwin Bye, Holicong, Pa.; sold in the late 1930s to CW's source, Edward R. Barnsley, Newtown, Pa.