The name of this illustration is “The Vision of William Penn“, or Penn’s Dream. It was painted after 1912 by Pennsylvania muralist Violet Oakley as part of a commission from architect Joseph Miller Huston to create eighteen murals for the Governor’s Reception Room in the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg. Ms Oakley received the commission after the death of Edwin Austin Abbey in 1911.
In this mural, Oakley depicts William Penn, son the of the Proprietor of Pennsylvania, calling his Quaker co-religionists to join the society he is building in the new world. A place for Friends, Penn’s vision is a city of "brotherly love". While his efforts may not have been an unqualified success in this respect, Oakley captures the promise of a new life that has for centuries lured adventuring men and women to America.
Commonwealth Books’ history notes will present glimpses of this ongoing story with captioned paintings and portraits of the events and people to who created the American nation. This notes will be drawn from Commonwealth Books’ slide shows.
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