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1958.101.3, Genre
Penn's Treaty with the Indians
1958.101.3, Genre

Penn's Treaty with the Indians

Date1830-1835
Attributed to Edward Hicks (1780-1849)
OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania, Bucks County
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 17 5/8 x 22 3/4in. (44.8 x 57.8cm) and Framed: 22 x 28 1/8in.
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1958.101.3
DescriptionAn outdoor scene showing a mixed group of Native Americans and westerners (Euro-Americans), some of whom gesture and display trade goods, e.g., bolts of cloth, and a long roll of inscribed paper. A gable-end structure appears beyond the group on the left. In the right distance, a sailing vessel is partially visible while, on the far shore of a body of water, men in a row boat beach their craft while others walk to or from a structure in the distance. The group in the foreground appears to be standing on top of a cliff or steep bank whose top is just visible along the lower edge of the composition.

The 2 1/2-inch, mahogany-veneered, lettered, flat frame with corner blocks is original and probably was made by Edward Trego (see "Notes").
Label TextPenn's Treaty with the Indians was one of Edward Hicks's most popular subjects; he created more than a dozen versions of it. He varied the details from one to another, but the basic elements of the buildings in the background, a single large tree, the Delaware River with various boats, and the principals involved in the historic event are present in all but one version, which was created as a signboard for a Chester, Pennsylvania, tavern.

As with his other historic subjects, Hicks derived his composition from a printed source, in this case most likely John Hall's 1775 engraving published by John Boydell in London after Benjamin West's celebrated painting of William Penn's Treaty with the Indians (now owned by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts).

The event itself was significant for Pennsylvania Quakers, particularly those in Bucks County, for Penn had named the county after his native Buckinghamshire, England, and built his home there. Likely, Penn's religious philosophy was closer to Hicksite than Orthodox beliefs and, significantly, Hicks associated Penn's treaty with the fulfillment of God's peaceable kingdom on earth as related in Isaiah and as documented in the kingdoms he painted with rhymed borders. Hence, his extensive usage of the vignette, both as entire subject, as here, and as a background detail in many kingdoms.



InscribedIn black paint on the scroll within the painting at right foreground is "Charter of/Pennsylvania/in North Ame[rica]/Treaty with/the Indians in ----/1681 with out an/oath & never bro[ken]/ Wm. Penn/Thos. Lloyd/James Logan/ Thos Story/Thos. Janney/Wm. Markham" [several of these letters are superscript, which cannot be replicated here].

The frame, which is original, is lettered "PENN'S TREATY" in yellow paint across the bottom member.
ProvenanceUnidentified original owner; an unidentified New York dealer; Charles Montgomery, Winterthur, Del.; J. Stuart Halladay and Herrel George Thomas, Sheffield, Mass. Halladay died in 1951, leaving his interest in their jointly-owned collection to his partner, Thomas. Thomas died in 1957 leaving his estate to his sister Mrs. Albert N. Petterson, who was AARFAM's vendor.