William Penn’s Treaty with the Indians, 1771
Benjamin West executed this famous picture of William Penn’s 1683 meeting with the Lenni-Lenapes, who called themselves the Common People. A Quaker pacifist, Penn refused to seize Indian lands by force and negotiated their purchase. But his son, Thomas Penn, probably had a political purpose when he commissioned the painting in 1771. By evoking a peaceful past, West’s work reinforced the Penn family’s proprietary claims, which were under strong attack by the Pennsylvania assembly. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, USA / The Bridgeman Art Library.