Highlighting Sotheby’s sale of American paintings, drawings and sculpture on May 22 was a masterpiece of American Nineteenth Century painting, “The Peaceable Kingdom with the Leopard of Serenity,” by Edward Hicks, which sold to applause for $9,673,000. The painting set a record for a work of American folk art at auction and a record for the artist at auction. This is also the highest price paid for a work of Americana at Sotheby’s and the second highest price paid for a work of Americana at auction.
Nancy Druckman, senior vice president and director of the folk art department, said, “We are jubilant and ecstatic about these results. It has been a great joy and a highlight of my professional career to work with this extraordinary painting.”
Arguably one of the most important and beautifully preserved examples of the more than 62 versions of this profound subject painted by the artist, this work boasts an exceptional provenance, which includes the artist’s great-granddaughter, Mabel Willets Abendroth, and her son, William P. Abendroth, Jr.
Later sold to Kennedy Galleries, New York, it was acquired by Ralph Esmerian and has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, as well as at the American Folk Art Museum, New York City, where it had been on view since 2000.
Hicks’s “Peaceable Kingdom” paintings, which have been written about by scholars for many decades, became his most effective tool for preaching the Quaker doctrines of salvation through light, harmony and peace, and the Peaceable Kingdom on earth. The present work, dated 1846‱848, was a late work in the artist’s career, created toward the end of his life, and demonstrates Hicks’s psychological and spiritual power as a profound observer of human character and aspiration.
A complete review of the sale will appear in a future issue.
