TitleThe Millenium
Artist
Junius Brutus Stearns
(American, 1810 - 1885)
Date1849
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 51 × 68 3/8 in.
Framed: 56 × 73 1/4 × 2 3/4 in.
SignedSigned at lower right: "J.B. Stearns. 1849"
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, June 18, 1849
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number1201-P
Label Text"The Millenium" was shown at the National Academy's 1851 annual exhibition. The art critic for the "New York Daily Tribune" praised the work's anatomical accuracy, and particularly commended Stearns's "admirable [painting of] the head of the lion, which is most faithfully rendered, and has all the leonine regality which belongs to the animal."The subject is taken directly from the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament (11:6):
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the
kid; and the calf and the young lion and
the fatling together; and a little child shall
lead them.
The Book of Isaiah was a popular source for artists in the late 18th and early 19th century. Edward Hicks was drawn to the same passage as Stearns in his many depictions of the Peaceable Kingdom.
Collections
- 19th Century Highlights from the Collection
