King Noah from the collection of J. Kirk Richards

Mosiah 17. Wicked King Noah

King Noah, c. 2020

oil on panel

5 x 5 in

Signature: JKR XXXI - 20

Mosiah 11:1 And now it came to pass that Zeniff conferred the kingdom upon Noah, one of his sons; therefore Noah began to reign in his stead; and he did not walk in the ways of his father.

This painting was part of a grouping finished and displayed in August of 2020 at Writ & Vision in Provo. I was especially interested in this story at that time because of current political and church policy events. Many Latter-day Saints at that time drew parallels between King Noah and Donald Trump. Additionally, the creation of the first “Mormon” church in written story, at the Waters of Mormon, was an interesting thing to think about in light of the directive to drop the self-identifier “Mormon” within the church.