Artist/Maker

Ehre Vater artist

Place Made

Date Made

1800-1810

Medium

ink and watercolor on paper

Dimensions

HOA: 15 1/2″; WOA: 12″

Accession Number

209.2

Description

Taufschein commemorating the birth and baptism of Anna Maria Hege who was born in 1791 in Rowan County, NC. Ink and watercolor on wove paper. The top portion is dominated by a large arched masthead, “Ehre Vater und Mutter,” in green letters outlined with a thin black line. Sprigs of leafy vines and flowers surround the masthead and text block and are also used to illuminate the upper case letters of the masthead. A delicate calligraphic flourish balances the right side of the masthead below the word “Mutter.” The center of the lower portion is a yellow heart outlined in red and surrounded by a green compass-drawn circle that is surrounded by a religious text. Flanking the heart and circle are a pair of parrots, facing outward, perched on the stems of large stylized tulips. The parrot on the right has crest feathers, suggesting it is a male. Three evergreen trees are symmetrically placed across the bottom of the sheet. All of the texts are written in Gothic lettering, with the birth and baptismal information in black and the religious verse in red.

Inscription:
Maria Hegin / Ist geboren in Northcarolina in / Roen County, im Jahr nach Christi Geburt 1791 / den 13ten November, ihre Eltern sind Laza / rus Hege und sein christliches Egeweib Eva / geborne Fischerin, sie is zur heilige Tauffe / gebracht worder bey dem Herrn Simon / Peter Li Pr; ihre Tauffzeugen waren Matheus Ester / lein und seine Frau Anna Maria und Sara / Hegin.
Ein Herz das Jesum liebt, weis ganz von keiner Plage, Viel Kreutz, Noth und Pein sind seine Freudentage
Translation:
Maria Hege / was born in North Carolina in/ Rowan County, in the year after Christ’s birth 1791 / on the 13th of November, her parents are Laza / rus Hege and his Christian wife Eva / nee Fisher, she was brought to holy Baptism / by Mr. Simon / Peter Pastor; her sponsors were Matthew Öster / lein and his wife Anna Maria and Sara / Hege.
A heart that loves Jesus knows naught of torment’s way; much cross, distress and pain with joy does fill the day.
Artist/Maker: Ehre Vater Artist (working 1782-1828). This itinerant artist was given the working name of the Ehre Vater Artist in 1961 by Donald Shelley in his publication Fraktur Writings or Illuminated Manuscripts of the Pennsylvania Germans (1961: Pennsylvania German Folklore Society). The name derives from the artist’s frequent use of the bold masthead “Ehre Vater und Mutter” (Honor Father and Mother). Scholars John Bivins and Frederick Weiser have suggested that the artist may have been an itinerant parochial schoolmaster of the Lutheran or Reformed faith. The artist’s attributed works cover a wide geographic range from the “Dutch Fork” region of South Carolina through North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania. The largest concentrations of works appear in the Germanic communities of Pennsylvania and the Moravian settlements of the Wachovia Tract in North Carolina, where most of the known works were created for families in the Friedberg and Friedland communities. The relative uniformity of the North Carolina works suggests that they may have been produced within a brief time span during the first decade of the 19th century. The majority of the texts are written with accomplished penmanship in Gothic and copperplate scripts, and occasionally in old German script. Motifs commonly used by this artist include leafy vines and flowers, large stylized tulips, overlapping veined leaves, lunettes, hearts, parrots (one of which is often crested, indicating a male), spiral columns, small colorful dots, a row of evergreen trees, and colorfully ornamented compass-drawn devices. A three-dimensional effect on flowers, hearts and leaves was often achieved through a shading technique seldom employed by fraktur artists. The majority of the Ehre Vater Artist’s works were executed in a vertical format. Several fraktur by this artist are on paper bearing the “S” watermark of the Salem (NC) Paper Mill built by Gottlieb Schober in 1790 and operated by him in partnership with different residents of Salem until 1836 when it was sold to John Christian Blum.

See:
Bivins, John, Jr. “Fraktur in the South: An Itinerant Artist.” MESDA Journal vol. I, no. 2 (November 1975)
Welshimer, Paula and John Bivin. Moravian Decorative Arts in North Carolina 1981, p.91

Related Objects: Acc. #’s 2533, 4646.1, 5646 and 5782

History

Anna Maria Hege (1791-1816) was the daughter of Johann Lazarus Hege (1766-1817) and Eva Fischer Hege (b.1767). Although Johann Lazarus, the son of Balthazar Hege, was born in Bethania, he lived as an adult in Friedberg. Sponsors listed were Anna Maria Österlein, Lazarus Hege’s sister, and her husband Mattheus Österlein (1752-1798) a blacksmith who had worked in Bethabara, Salem and Friedberg, and Sara Hege (1774-1819), another sister of Lazarus Hege. The presiding minister was Simon Peter (1743-1819), schoolmaster and tobacconist, who had come to Wachovia in 1784.

Artist Biography

ARTIST: A large body of frakturs have been attributed to this unnamed artist, dubbed “Ehre Vater,” after the first two words of his most well-known inscription. It is thought that the artist may have been a parochial schoolmaster in one of the German churches in northern Davidson County. Most of his fraktur – over thirty-five documents known – were executed for Lancaster and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, subjects. His work is found as far north as Canada and has been found in the South Carolina piedmont, but the Canadian and South Carolina work almost certainly was brought in rather than done on site. In addition to the opening phrase arranged as an arched masthead, the artist frequently employs colorful female and male parakeets perched on leafy fronds, masthead letters elaborated with delicate vines, a row of small trees along the bottom, and an impeccable fraktur hand. Other “signatures” include a striped “barber’s pole” column and compass-drawn stars. The quality of his work, coupled with the extensive use of drafting equipment, suggests that the artist may have been trained as a cartographer.

Artist Working Dates

1782-1828

Credit Line

Anonymous Loan