It has been shown, however, that underlying the series as a whole is a strong element of personal symbolism. This symbolism is rooted in Hicks's Quaker beliefs. The small scene at the left in which William Penn signs a treaty with the Indians, derived from a print after Benjamin West's famous painting, underscores the painter's conviction that Penn's agreement announced a stage in the establishment of the foretold peaceable kingdom on earth. Although few of the Kingdoms can be dated with precision, Alice Ford has grouped the many versions into several distinct periods, placing this painting in the final one, 1845-49. The Kingdoms of this last period are the most technically advanced and the most peaceful in mood.
Space is less cramped.
Previously awkward beasts take on a new grace and appealing charm, while greater openness of composition heightens the sense of serenity and easy movement. Hicks's increased facility as well, perhaps, as an awareness of his own impending death, help account for the fact that he produced in his last years a larger number of Kingdoms than in any previous period. A convert in middle-age to Swedenborgian thought, Inness saw nature as reflecting a spiritual realm in which man is part of a harmonious Whole, neither subordinate to nature nor totally her master. The Coming Storm presents a heroic vision in which the small human figure gives scale to the storm, psychologically as well as physically. The billowing clouds and unnatural lighting caused by the storm enable him to explore painterly effects, but with a strong sense of structure usually lacking in his later, more diffuse compositions.