Schwenkfelder Watercolor Fraktur Picture

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Schwenkfelder Watercolor Fraktur Picture - Sold
Attributed to Maria Heebner (1807-1868), Probably Worcester Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, circa 1840s
Watercolor on paper
Sight: 7 3/4 x 7 7/8 inches
Frame: 10 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches

Worked in a bright palette, depicting a bird and flowers. This striking fraktur picture bears close stylistic comparisons to several done by Mary (Maria) Heebner (1807- 1868), who was the daughter of Abraham Heebner. A virtually identical fraktur by Maria, though reversed in
composition, is illustrated in Dennis K. Moyer, Fraktur Writings and Folk Art Drawings of the Schwenkfelder Library Collection (Kutztown, Pennsylvania, 1998), p. 105, fig. 1-69. It is evident that Maria’s painting style was influenced by her aunt, Susanna Heebner (b.1750) and it is possible she shared her aunt’s paint box.

The Schwenkfelders were a Germanic Christian sect that settled in an area in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.  They and their non-Schwenkfelder neighbors produced some of the finest examples of frakturs and folk art drawings, such as this example.

Provenance:
Collection of David Rumsey, Pennsylvania