SOMERSET COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA FRAKTUR TAUFSCHEIN ATTR. TO THE BROTHERS VALLEY ARTIST
Fraktur Taufschein for William Coleman
Watercolor and ink on paper
Attributed to the Brothers Valley Artist (active 1805-1815)
Brothersvalley Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania
1822
Condition: conserved by Frank Dolloff (Waltham, MA) in 1988
Large central heart with birth and baptismal information, surrounded by large tulips, and with smaller hearts below. In a period, grain-painted frame, 12” high, 16” wide (overall).
William Coleman (1819-1894) was the son of Nicholas Coleman (1788-1856) and Elizabeth Bauman Coleman (1794-1852). William, a farmer, married Matilda Hoover (1832-1891) and the couple had two children and remained in Somerset County their entire lives.
The “Brothers Valley” Artist was active in Somerset and Northampton Counties. This example differs from the artist’s usual composition (tombstone-shaped text area), but the large tulips (especially the squiggle at center) closely relate to Rosina Yung’s taufschein illustrated in Made in Pennsylvania: A Folk Art Tradition (Westmoreland Museum of American Art, 2007), p. 26, and Johann Frederick Schumacher’s taufschein that sold at Pook and Pook (Downingtown, PA), October 10, 2020, lot 431.
Provenance
Kendall Falk, Milan, Ohio
Bill Samaha, Milan, Ohio