William Penn's Treaty with the Indians
John Hall, English, 1739 - 1797
after Benjamin West, American, 1738 - 1820
1775
Engraving on paper
Impression: 16 1/2 × 23 3/8 in. (41.9 × 59.4 cm)
Sheet: 20 × 28 1/4 in. (50.8 × 71.8 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Reverend J. E. Johnson
PR.972.135
Publisher
John Boydell
Geography
Place Made: England, United Kingdom, Europe
Period
1600-1800
Object Name
Research Area
On view
Inscriptions
Inscribed, on plate, lower left: Benj. West pinxit; lower right: John Hall sculpsit; center: Published June 12th 1775 by JOHN BOYDELL Engraver in Cheapside London
Label
This mythical rendering of the Treaty of Shackamaxon portrays William Penn at center with his arms outstretched. Below him, colonizers offer cloth to Lenni Lenape Chief Tamanend in exchange for their lands. At the left, a Native American man walks into the forest carrying rolled cloth on his shoulder, which signifies his acceptance of this exchange, while buildings under construction in the background and arriving ships at the right emphasize how colonial expansion would continue to displace Native Americans from their lands. This print falsely perpetuated the idea that Lenni Lenape lands were fairly purchased rather than taken through threats of violence. It recast Britain’s greed for land as beneficial to Native Americans.
The American Revolution began in 1775, the same year this print portraying a 1680s event appeared on the market. The print reproduced a 1771 painting by the Pennsylvania-born artist Benjamin West, historical painter to the court of King George III, which was intended to bolster the Penn family’s claims to stolen lands.
From the 2025-26 exhibition Revolution Reconsidered: History, Myth, and Propaganda, curated by Michael W. Hartman (Jonathan Little Cohen Curator of American Art), Haely Chang (Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art), Elizabeth Rice Mattison (Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art), Ashley B. Offill (Curator of Collections), and Evonne Fuselier (Hood Museum Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow)
Course History
ANTH 64, The Evolution of Pregnancy, Zaneta Thayer, Spring 2019
Art History 20.04, Faith and Empire, Beth Mattison, Spring 2023
Exhibition History
Lower Jewett Corridor, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 23-March 21, 1976.
Revolution Reconsidered: History, Myth, and Propaganda, Harteveldt Family Gallery and Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 18, 2025 - August 8, 2026.
Provenance
Reverend J. E. Johnson; given to present collection, 1972.
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