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| First Fruits, 1760, shows people of 25 nationalities, converts of Moravian missionaries, in heaven. |
With my
last post, we explored the German folk art fraktur,
a topic that came out of research for my upcoming novel, The Witness Tree (Smitten Historical Romance, September 2019).
Today I’d like to introduce you to a little-known German artist painting during
Colonial times, John Valentine Haidt.
Haidt
was truly a master painter, but most of his work is only available for viewing in
the Pennsylvania towns of Lititz, Nazareth, and Bethlehem.
Born
in Germany in 1700, Haidt studied drawing at the Royal Academy of Arts in
Berlin at the expense of the King of Prussia. Haidt’s travels to the great
cities of Europe had introduced him to the highest forms of art, but in his
heart, he wanted to be a minister. He joined the Moravian Church after a
profound experience at a London love feast. Shortly after, he appealed to
Moravian leader Count Zinzendorf to become a church-sponsored painter rather
than a preacher. The count responded by requesting ten paintings.
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| Portrait of a Moravian Girl |
In
1754, Haidt moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. There he focused on paintings (30
known) and portraits (40 known) until his death in 1780. Copies of his moving depictions
of the suffering and death of Christ were often taken by missionaries into the
field.
The
Moravians at the Springplace mission to the Cherokees documented the effect of
such a painting in their diaries on Good Friday, March 27, 1812. “After the
first service, the painting of the Crucifixion was shown to everyone present
and the children were told, ‘See, in this manner, God’s Son suffered out of
love for humans and shed all of His blood!’ They seemed completely astonished
and did not speak a word. … After this service Mr. Hicks spoke especially with
Brother Gambold and to his great joy expressed ... his desire for Holy
Baptism.”
Represented by Hartline Literary Agency, Denise Weimer holds
a journalism degree with a minor in history from Asbury University. She’s a managing
editor for Smitten Historical Romance imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the
Carolinas and the author of The Georgia Gold Series, The Restoration Trilogy,
and a number of novellas, including Across
Three Autumns of Barbour’s Colonial Backcountry Brides Collection. A wife
and mother of two daughters, she always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old
houses! Connect with Denise here:
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| Lamentation Over the Body of Christ, 1758 |
This is very interesting! The whole idea of portrait painters traveling around to capture 'families' fascinates me. Thanks for sharing this, Denise!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debra! Haidt was amazingly talented but is now so little known.
ReplyDelete