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William Penn's Treaty with the Indians (Furnishing Fabric)

A work made of cotton, plain weave; copperplate printed.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of cotton, plain weave; copperplate printed.

Date:

c. 1785

Artist:

After engraving by John Hall (English, 1739–1797) after painting by Benjamin West (American, 1738–1826)
England

About this artwork

All three versions od “William Penn’s Treaty with the Indians” were adapted from an engraving by John Hall (1739- 1797), published by John Boydell (1719- 1804) in London in 1775. The Hall print is after a painting of the same subject by Benjamin West (1738-1826) dating from 1771, now in Independence Hall, Philadelphia. Two version differ from each other only with respect to scale and most closely resemble the original engraving. The third is not only a smaller pattern but also shows a great deal more vegetation than the other two versions. Thus, there are represented three separate engravings of the same scene. William Penn (1644- 1718) was a prominent English Quaker leader and the founder of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was a friend and ally of the tribes and purchased land from them at a fair price. The “treaty” depicted by Benjamin West was not an actual event— no documents were ever signed although Penn did meet with the Indians in 1683 to establish peach.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Textiles

Artist

John Boydell (Publisher)

Title

William Penn's Treaty with the Indians (Furnishing Fabric)

Place

England (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1775–1795

Medium

Cotton, plain weave; copperplate printed

Dimensions

119.5 × 72.5 cm (47 × 28 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Textile Purchase Fund

Reference Number

1969.208

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/31467/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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