Quaker Minister and America’s foremost primitive painter, Edward Hicks, resided and was buried just a mile away from my Newtown residence. He is best known for his ‘Peaceable Kingdom’ pictures, of which sixty-two exist, and he might had painted over a hundred of them. Hick’s house is still there and there is a ‘Peaceable Kingdom’ playground located a couple of blocks from it.
The ‘Peaceable Kingdom’ paintings depict a prophecy in the Book of Isaiah (11:6):
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
…
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain
Peaceable Kingdom playground, Newtown, PA
The prophecy is commonly perceived as a description of a state of harmony among all creatures, a state of peace as opposed to war. However, it is hard to believe that Hicks spent so much time on a series that spanned half of his life, from 1816 to 1847, to convey such a simple message.
The prophecy could be perceived on a deeper existential level as a description of a place where there is no death and no time - a blessed land where nothing changes, the feature frequently associated with an afterlife. Hicks being a Minister most probably perceived it as such and presented his reflections in the ‘Peaceable Kingdom’ series.
Many great intellectuals contemplated over the centuries the mystery of life, death, and possibility of the afterlife. Although they did not come any closer to resolving the mystery, at least they tried and left after magnificent descriptions of their views. Among them, in my humble opinion, is one of the most profound poetic works of the XX century - ‘The Great Elegy for John Donne’ by Joseph Brodsky. Here is the description of the ‘Peaceable Kingdom’ from this elegy:
The radiance of that Country does not fade.
From thence all here seems a faint, fevered dream.
From thence our Lord is but a light that gleams,
through fog, in window of the farthest house.
The fields lie fallow, furrowed by no plow.
The years lie fallow, and the centuries.
Forests alone stand, like a steady wall.
Enormous rains batter the dripping grass.
...All things are distant. What is near is dim.
The level glance slides from a roof remote.
All here is bright. No din of baying hound
or tolling bell disturbs the silent air.
Joseph Brodsky - The Great Elegy for John Donne
И климат там недвижен, в той стране.
Откуда всё, как сон больной в истоме.
Господь оттуда -- только свет в окне
туманной ночью в самом дальнем доме.
Поля бывают. Их не пашет плуг.
Года не пашет. И века не пашет.
Одни леса стоят стеной вокруг,
а только дождь в траве огромной пляшет.
...Всё, всё вдали. А здесь неясный край.
Спокойный взгляд скользит по дальним крышам.
Здесь так светло. Не слышен псиный лай.
И колокольный звон совсем не слышен.
Иосиф Бродский - Большая элегия Джону Донну
And here is an image from my ‘Venetian Masks’ series inspired by the elegy. One with sharp vision could even discern ‘windows of the farthest house’ in the upper right corner.
Peaceable Kingdom