Editorial Reviews

America's most recognizable naive artist. Edward Hicks was virtually unknown in his own time. Raised by a family friend after his mother's death when he was three years old, Hicks was apprenticed to a carriage painter. His artisanship however, often had to take a back seat to his religious calling. In his early twenties, Hicks became known as a fiery Quaker minister. traveling into Canada and down into the southern states to preach his firm belief in temperance, abolition, and devotion to the holy life. Hicks termed his painting a "weakness", yet returned to its solace again and again, as he found himself haunted by the schisms in the Quaker church and his own shortcomings. He painted nearly 100 versions of "The Peaceable Kingdom", his own vision of peace in a flawed world, little knowing that his art would become a touchstone for a young country hungry for its own legends.