AFA Autumn 2021

Antiques & Fine Art 91 2021 Lutherans, German Reformed, Dunkards, Mennonites, and Schwenkfelders. The area is noted for its agricultural and industrial heritage, with abundant streams and forests that supported a number of early milling operations, tanneries, and ironworks. Its artistic legacy is equally noteworthy, including outstanding examples of fraktur, redware pottery, painted and inlaid furniture. This article highlights the work of the Gottschall family of fraktur artists. THE GOTTSCHALL FAMILY Two generations of Mennonite schoolmasters- turned-farmers in the Gottscha ll family produced some of the most visually striking and iconic examples of Pennsylvania German fraktur. 1 The earliest example in the Dietrich collection is a spectacular drawing with a profusion of flowers along with two large, colorful peacocks and a pair of women in striped dresses (Fig. 1). Made by Jacob Gottschall (1769–1845), this fraktur is one of the few known examples of his artwork to survive. Born in New Britain Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Jacob Gottschall was named after his great-grandfather Jacob Gaedtschalk (1670– 1763), who emigrated from Germany in 1702 and was ordained by the Germantown Mennonite meeting as the first Mennonite bishop in America. In 1780, Jacob Gottschall (age eleven) was a student of Johann Adam Eyer (1755–1837) at the Perkasie school. Eyer was a talented fraktur artist whose work inf luenced generations of students who learned to copy both his artwork and handwriting. Jacob Gottschall was surely one of Eyer’s most talented protégés; the boldly drawn peacocks with elongated necks and tails on this fraktur echo birds on fraktur made by Eyer. This drawing likely dates to about 1792, when Jacob Gottschall (then twenty-three years old) began to teach school at the Skippack Mennonite meetinghouse. The fraktur was likely made for one of his students; it descended in the Nice family of Skippack Township. The text at the bottom of the Fig. 2: Vorschrift (writing sample) signed by Martin Gottschall (1797–1870). Franconia Township, Montgomery County, Pa., ca. 1815–1818. Watercolor and ink on laid paper, 7¾ x 12¾ inches. The Dietrich American Foundation (7.9.1360). Photo by Gavin Ashworth. Fig. 3: Signature of Martin Gottschall on verso of the fraktur illustrated in figure 2. Photo by Gavin Ashworth.