Preview
Scrivener
Durs Rudy, Sr. (1766-1843)
Decorator
Durs Rudy, Sr. (1766-1843)
Accession Number
PAG2001.031
Creation Date
1804
Description
Drawing of Adam and Eve surrounded by trees, flowers, and animals, with inscription below.
Dimensions in Inches
9 1/2 x 12
Dimensions in Centimeters
24 x 30
Materials
Watercolor and ink on laid paper
Technique
Drawn, Hand lettered
Scrivener Location
Skippack, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Decorator Location
Skippack, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Category
Religious text
Motifs
deer, trees, tulips, pine trees, birds, suns, snakes, religious, Adam, Eve
Associated Names
Durs Rudy Senior, Durs Rudy Junior
Rights
Please contact the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College for permissions which fall outside of educational fair use.
Source
Ursinus College Library Special Collections and the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art
Provenance
Pennsylvania Folklife Society
Script/Text
Fraktur lettering, German script
Language
German
Transcription
Und Gott der geber alles gutten, thut dem Adam hier gebieten, iß nicht von verbotnen gaben, von allen sonst kanst du wohl haben./Und die schlange war listiger dann alle thiere auf dem felde, und sprach zum weibe: Ja solte Gott gesagt haben, Ihr solt essen von dem/baum mitten im garten gar keine frucht, Ißt nur davon, ihr wärdet mit nichten des todes sterben. da schauet das weib/an das es von dem baum gut zu essen wäre und lieblich an zusehen, und daß weib aß und gab ihrem Manne auch davon./Diese geshichte kan man lesen von adam und eva Im ersten buch Mosse im 3 Cap. Geschrieben Im Jahr A: 1804 DR
Translation
And God the giver of all good, commands Adam to come here, eat not of forbidden gifts, of all else may you have plenty. And the snake was more clever than all the animals of the field, and said to the woman: Did God indeed say that you should eat of the tree in the middle of the garden no fruit at all [?]. [Just] eat of it, you will by no means die. Then the woman looked at it [the fruit] of the tree and saw that it was good to eat and pleasing to look on, and the woman ate and gave of it to her husband also. This story one can read of Adam and Eve in the first book of Moses in the 3rd chapter. Written in the year A[nno Domini] 1804 DR.
Comment
It is not certain whether Durs Rudy Senior (1766-1843) or Durs Rudy Junior (1789-1850) or both made fraktur. Some scholars have argued that both did, but Gerard C. Wertkin in his article on the fraktur of Durs Rudy argued that there was only one artist. Rudy was of Swiss origin and immigrated with his family from Germany in 1803, where they soon settled in Lehigh county. Rudy made several renditions of the Adam and Eve story, with this being the earliest dated example. In this piece, Rudy began by using the present tense, as if he was an observer to the event.
Condition
Good
Published
Hershey, Mary Jane Lederach. This Teaching I Present: Fraktur from the Skippack and Salford Mennonite Meetinghouse Schools, 1747–1836. (Intercourse, Pa.: Good Books, 2003). 123. Minardi, Lisa. "Pennsylvania German Folk Art Finds a New Home." Early American Life, 50, no. 5. (2019): 51. MInardi, Lisa. Roots: Ursinus College and the Pennsylvania Germans (Trappe, Pa.: Historic Trappe, 2019). p. 62, fig. 3.36.
File Format
.jpeg
Type
image
Keywords
fraktur, Pennsylvania German, Pennsylvania Dutch, folk art, illuminated manuscript, religious text
Image Location
Rights Statement
No Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Only. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-NC/1.0/
This object has been digitized in a public-private partnership. As part of this partnership, the partners have agreed to limit commercial uses of this digital representation of the object by third parties. You can, without permission, copy, modify, distribute, display, or perform the digital object, for non-commercial uses. For any other permissible uses, please review the terms and conditions of the organization that has made the item available.
