Daniel Peterman (1797–1871) was an American

fraktur Fraktur () is a calligraphic hand of the Latin alphabet and any of several blackletter typefaces derived from this hand. It is designed such that the beginnings and ends of the individual strokes that make up each letter will be clearly vis ...

artist. A third-generation American, Peterman was a native of Shrewsbury Township, York County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, where he died. A member of the

Reformed Church Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian, ...

, he was a schoolmaster in that tradition, and in the

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

as well. He was married and had children. Much of his fraktur was produced for the children of York County, and many of his pieces are similar to one another in their format, in which two female figures border the text and various flowers and birds are added as decoration. For his family, he created more elaborate pictures, in which a variety of objects, from sailing ships to pianos, are shown. One baptismal record for a nephew includes in its decorative scheme a market house, chickens, and a dog. Sometimes he added

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

into his compositions; he also drew courting couples. His palette is bright. Peterman used ruled paper to continue his art when hand-milled paper became unavailable; he continued to work well into the 1860s. He was among the most prolific fraktur artists active in York County, alongside Johannes Bard. Nearly all of his pieces were made for families in

Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

, Codorus, Shrewsbury and Manheim townships. A piece by Peterman sold at auction in 2015 for $9,680.

References

1797 births 1871 deaths American male painters 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists Fraktur artists Schoolteachers from Pennsylvania Painters from Pennsylvania People from York County, Pennsylvania 19th-century American educators {{US-painter-stub