The practical book of early American arts and crafts . to be overcome, a time of rugged, struggling,and not altogether promising infancy. Only a few ofthem can be mentioned here by name, but they will serveto indicate the general types that existed. Starting at the very beginning, there is the portraitof the pietist, Magister Johannes Kelpius, painted byDr. Christopher Witt, in 1705. This was the first por-trait in oils executed in America, and is now preservedin the collection of the Pennsylvania Historical is painted on heavy linen and pasted, like a flyleaf, atthe beginning of a
The practical book of early American arts and crafts . to be overcome, a time of rugged, struggling,and not altogether promising infancy. Only a few ofthem can be mentioned here by name, but they will serveto indicate the general types that existed. Starting at the very beginning, there is the portraitof the pietist, Magister Johannes Kelpius, painted byDr. Christopher Witt, in 1705. This was the first por-trait in oils executed in America, and is now preservedin the collection of the Pennsylvania Historical is painted on heavy linen and pasted, like a flyleaf, atthe beginning of a manuscript volume of hymns andother mystical religious effusions composed by theartist. Both subject and painter were quaint charactersof unusual interest, and what the portrait lacks intechnical excellence or artistic charm is made up in theremarkable associations attaching to it. Kelpius wasthe master or prior of the strange Rosicrucian com-munity, composed of German mystics or pietists, which,in 1694, founded its monastery on the wild banks of the. PORTRAIT OF MAGISTER JOHANNES KELPIUS, PAINTED IN 1705 BY DR. CHRISTOPHER WITT The first portrait in oils painted in the Colonies Courtesy of Pennsylvania Historical Society
Size: 1330px × 1880px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade191, booksubjectdecorationandornament
