Edward Hicks

Edward Hicks (1780-1849) was an American folk painter and distinguished minister of the Society of Friends. After young Edward's mother died when he was eighteen months old, Matron Elizabeth Twining – a close friend of his mother's – raised him as one of her own at their farm. She also taught him the Quaker beliefs which had a great impact on the rest of his life. Because he didn't do well in school, it was decided he should work for a coach maker and it was here painting signs and coaches that he learned skills which prepared him to become a painter. He married and he and his wife Sarah had four children. At one time he became very ill and as a result he began to think more seriously about his life. He started attending the Quaker church, which stresses peace and brotherly love, and eventually he became a popular Quaker preacher. As a self-taught artist Edward Hicks often painted for his own pleasure and for people in his area. On the very night that he died, at the age of 69, he was painting a Peaceable Kingdom for his daughter.