Rebecca Landon

Rebecca Landon (c. 1782 – November 19, 1844) was an American Shaker religious figure, visionary, community leader, and creator of sacred imagery associated with the New Lebanon, New York, Shaker community. She is known for a visionary testimony recorded in 1842 during the Shaker Era of Manifestations and for her association with the drawing Mother's Banner of Love and Comfort, now held by the National Gallery of Art.

Early life and Shaker affiliation

Little documentary evidence survives concerning Rebecca Landon's early life prior to her association with the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing (Shakers). Shaker records place her long-term residence within the New Lebanon community, also known as the Mount Lebanon Shaker Society, which functioned as a central spiritual, administrative, and publishing center for the movement during the nineteenth century. Shaker historian Daniel W. Patterson identifies Landon as Eldress of the Second Family at Mount Lebanon at the time the banner originated, indicating her senior leadership within that order.

Visionary Testimony (1842) In April 1842, during the period of heightened visionary activity known as the Era of Manifestations, Landon recorded a detailed testimony describing a nocturnal vision. According to her account, she witnessed the appearance of a luminous female angel holding a book and delivering an extended prophetic message.

Landon's testimony was later published in The Divine Book of Holy and Eternal Wisdom (1849), a compilation of Shaker revelations edited by Paulina Bates and issued by the United Society at New Lebanon, with printing carried out in Canterbury, New Hampshire.

Artistic work Rebecca Landon, Mother's Banner of Love and Comfort, 1845. (NGA 52975) Rebecca Landon is associated with Mother's Banner of Love and Comfort (dated March 16, 1845), a symbolic Shaker drawing now held by the National Gallery of Art (NGA 52975). A contemporaneous note indicates that the work was "copied" by Landon. However, as she had died approximately four months earlier, she was not the "mortal instrument" who physically executed the drawing. The work was included in the 1970 exhibition Gift of Inspiration: Religious Art of the Shakers at Hancock Shaker Village.

Bishop described Landon as physically frail but credited her with long-standing spiritual leadership, noting her decades-long service as a Shepherdess. He characterized her as influential in "uniting & protecting souls" and emphasized that she was respected within the community without regard to "age, sex, color or condition."