Who painted Noah's Ark?

Edward Hicks painted Noah's Ark in 1846.

What Bible passage does Noah's Ark depict?

Noah's Ark depicts the biblical scene from Genesis 6:9-22.

Noah's Ark by Edward Hicks

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The biblical story of Noah's ark, depicted here, is found in the book of Genesis (6:9–9:28). To punish people for their wicked and violent ways, God decided to send heavy rains to earth for forty days and forty nights. First, however, he instructed Noah, a righteous man, to build an ark for his family and two of every kind of animal. After the rains stopped, a dove sent out by Noah returned to the ark with an olive branch, proof that the floodwater had receded and plants could grow again. Then God created a beautiful rainbow in the sky as a symbol of his promise to never destroy the earth again.

This painting by Edward Hicks shows a long, curving line of animals approaching Noah’s huge boat. Prancing horses and a serious-looking lion stare out at us, while pairs of elegant, black-and-white-striped zebras, giraffes, camels, tigers, and hippopotamuses stand patiently. What other animals can you find? In the distance, tiny black birds fly down from the dark, rain-filled clouds overhead.

Edward Hicks learned to paint decorative motifs when he was apprenticed to a coach maker at the age of thirteen. Later he became a successful sign painter and a devout Quaker preacher. Although his business conflicted with Quaker beliefs—that art is a distraction and a needless luxury—Hicks considered his art to be an expression of his faith and created paintings that told religious stories. This is the only painting he made of the story of Noah's ark.

Details

Artist: Edward Hicks
Created: 1846
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimension: 77cm × 67cm
Passage: Genesis 6:9-22

Found in: Genesis, Genesis 6, 19th century

Genesis 6:9-22

9 This is the history of the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God.

10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12 God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

13 God said to Noah, “I will bring an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them and the earth.

14 Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch.

15 This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.

16 You shall make a roof in the ship, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels.

17 I, even I, do bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die.

18 But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

19 Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.

20 Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort will come to you, to keep them alive.

21 Take with you some of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself; and it will be for food for you, and for them.”

22 Thus Noah did. He did all that God commanded him.

Genesis 6:9-22 · World English Bible

The artist

Edward Hicks

1780 - 1849

Attleboro, Pennsylvania, USA

Edward Hicks (April 4, 1780 – August 23, 1849) was an American folk painter and distinguished religious minister of the Society of Friends (aka "Quakers"). He became a Quaker icon because of his paintings.

Resources

Noah’s Ark by Edward Hicks

“Noah’s Ark” by Edward Hicks depicts the vessel in the Genesis flood narrative through which God spares Noah, his family, and the animals from a world-engulfing flood. Noah and his family built the ar...