Images(3)

Leedom Farm

Date1849

Artist Edward Hicks (1780-1849)

OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania, Bucks County

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOther (Unframed): 40 1/8 x 49 1/16in. (101.9 x 124.6cm) Framed: 48 x 57 1/4 x 2in. (121.9 x 145.4 x 5.1cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1957.101.4

DescriptionA peaceful farmscape showing cattle, sheep, horses, geese, and hogs grouped at center front in an enclosure, with other animals shown in adjacent lots and enclosures and several people standing near the back left corner of the central fenced enclosure. Scattered outbuildings include a 3 1/2-story barn at far right. A farmhouse, partly obscured by trees, is partially visible at far left. The horizon line approximately divides the canvas in half. The sky is pink transitioning to blue with scattered clouds. Gently rolling hills are seen in the background.

The 4 1/2-inch, mahogany-veneered, splayed frame has an outer bead and is original to the painting.
Label TextThis last of Edward Hicks's farmscapes is a summation of its predecessors. It is the most dreamlike and tranquil of the group, with its expansive early morning spring sky of pale blues, pinks, and tints of green, and the soft atmospheric hills receding beyond the fertile green lands and pristine complex of buildings in the foreground. Perhaps better than any of his other pictures, it captures Quaker quietism and the innate concern for order, simplicity, and man's good works on earth. These qualities and the remarkable skill with which Hicks rendered them make Leedom Farm a masterpiece of his surviving paintings and of folk painting in general. It is one of the last paintings to be done before the artist's death.

At the back of the central fenced enclosure, in addition to David Leedom, his wife, and other living family members, Hicks depicted his favorite foster sister, Mary Twining Leedom, and her husband Jesse Leedom, both of whom had died by then. Their inclusion was meaningful to the artist's broader message about family, kinship, and the history of the farm.

No work takes place in this picture. Edward envisioned this gathering of loved ones and gentle animals, several of which suckle their young, as a final, highly personal statement about the serenity he so fervently desired for humanity.
InscribedAt lower left in yellow paint is "A May morning view of the Farm and Stock of DAVID LEEDOM of Newtown Bucks County --- Pennsylvania/ with a representation of Himself. Wife. Father. Mother. Brothers. Sisters and nephew." On the righthand side in yellow paint is "Painted by Edw. Hicks in the 70th year of his age."
ProvenanceDavid Leedom, Newtown, Pa.; unidentified Leedom descendants; Mr. and Mrs. John Law Robertson, Scranton and Montrose, Pa.; M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, NY.