Image scanned from a transparency and color-corrected by Ed Pollard-2008.

Images(2)

New photography by Shannon Ruff captured with a digital camera-2008.

The Declaration of Independence, 1776

Artist Edward Hicks (American, 1780-1849)

CultureAmerican

Dateca. 1840

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall, Support: 26 x 29 1/2 in. (66 x 74.9 cm)
Overall, Frame: 30 x 33 1/2 in. (76.2 x 85.1 cm)
25 3/4 x 29 1/4 in. (65.4 x 74.3 cm)

Credit LineGift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch

Object number76.53.1

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 211

DescriptionThis is on oil on canvas painting. The viewer is given a slightly omniscient view of this scene, similar to actors on a stage. The characters are numerous and nearly without distinction. The heads are done isocephaly, with figure size as the only indication of background and foreground. The panels of the doors in the background are also unsymmetrical. Thomas Jefferson, having red hair and a dark blue suit with a red vest, is identified for the viewer as important: he is in the front of the stage and is the only one wearing red. Benjamin Franklin is on his left. The others move as the group to the front to sign the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.

Label TextEdward Hicks American, 1780–1849 The Declaration of Independence, 1776, ca. 1840 Oil on canvas Washington at the Delaware, ca. 1849 Oil on canvas Though self-taught artist Edward Hicks lived in rural Bucks County, Pennsylvania, he encountered many of America’s greatest paintings through prints and books. These two copies pay homage to John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence and Thomas Sully’s Passage of the Delaware, both celebrating famous moments from the American Revolution. Paintings by Hicks allowed modest households to display their patriotic spirit, and the artist also decorated carriages and tavern signs with these same subjects. In addition to painting, Hicks was a Quaker preacher, and many of his works depict Christian allegories and biblical scenes. Gifts of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch 76.53.1 and 77.1271 ProvenanceHorace Burton, Edgely, Bucks County, Pa.; Robert Carlen Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa.; Edith Gregor Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York; M. Knoedler & Co., New York; Joseph Katz Co., New York; M. Knoedler & Co, New York; Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, by 1952; Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch to The Chrysler Museum, 1976. Exhibition HistoryArt in Embassies, Museum of Modern Art, Paris III, date unknown. "Edward Hicks, A Gentle Spirit," Andrew Crispo Gallery, New York, N.Y., May 16 - July 26, 1975, no. 24. "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "Patriotic Folk Art," Yorktown Victory Center, Yorktown, Va., November 12, 1979 - June 14, 1980. "The World Turned Upside Down," Yorktown Victory Center, Yorktown, Va., May 9 - December 31, 1981. "Picturing History: American Painting, 1770-1930," IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, N.Y., September 28 - November 27, 1993; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., January 29 - April 2, 1994; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Tex., May 1 - July 10, 1994. "First in the Hearts of His Countrymen: America Remembers George Washington 1732-1799," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., November 23, 1999 - Summer 2001. "Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. "Reopening of the Joan P. Brock Galleries," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., Opening in March of 2008. Published ReferencesAlice Ford, _Edward Hicks, Painter of the Peaceable Kingdom_ (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1952), 144. Virgil Barker, "Colloquial History Painting," _Art in America_ 42 (May 1954): 122. _Edward Hicks, A Gentle Spirit_ (New York: Andrew Crispo Gallery, 1975), cat. no. 24. Dennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 44. Dennis R. Anderson, "American Collection Further Enhanced by Hicks Paintings," _Chrysler Museum Bulletin_ 5, no. 1 (January 1976). John P. Guttenberg, "Edward Hicks: A Journey to the Peaceable Kingdom," _American Art & Antiques_ 2:3 (May/June 1979), 80, 82-83. _Patriotic Folk Art_ (Yorktown, VA: Yorktown Victory Center, 1979), cat. no. 8. _Americana: Folk and Decorative Art_ (New York: Billboard Publications, Inc., An Art & Antiques Book, 1982), 12, 14-15. ISBN: 0823080056 Eleanor Price Mather and Dorothy Canning Miller, _Edward Hicks: His Peaceable Kingdoms and Other Paintings_ (Newark, Del.: University of Delaware Press, 1983), 166, fig. 76. ISBN: 0874132088 Alice Ford, _Edward Hicks: His Life and Art_ (NY: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1985), 123. ISBN: 0896595706 John Michael Vlach, _Plain Painters: Making Sense of American Folk Art_ (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988), 125, fig. 80. ISBN: 0874749263, 0874749255 Alice Ford, _Edward Hicks Painter of the Peaceable Kingdom_ (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998), xi, 144. ISBN: 081221675X Carolyn J. Weekley, _The kingdoms of Edward Hicks_ (Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1999), 1, 4, 54, 77, 80, 81, 156, 214. ISBN: 0879352051, 0810912341 Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 47, no. 22. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6