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The Landing of William Penn, by J.L.G. Ferris, circa 1920.
Credit: Library of Congress
No artists accompanied William Penn on his first voyage to his new colony. This left future illustrators free to imagine events as they wished. Between 1900 and 1930, Philadelphia artist J. L. G. Ferris painted 78 scenes of important events in American history, from the discovery of New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492 to the beginning of World War I, including this fanciful portrayal of Penn's arrival at New Castle in 1682. In it, Ferris's Indians look like they have just wandered into New Castle from the Great Plains.