Ludwig Denig (1755–1830) was an American folk artist. A native of

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

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 ...

, he became 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, ...

, whose congregational school he attended. He served in the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

and worked as a shoemaker before, in 1787, moving to

Chambersburg Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, in the South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, and north of Maryland and the Ma ...

, Pennsylvania and taking up work as an

apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is an Early Modern English, archaic English term for a medicine, medical professional who formulates and dispenses ''materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons and patients. The modern terms ''pharmacist'' and, in Brit ...

. He died in Chambersburg. Denig is remembered for a 200-page illuminated manuscript he produced in 1784. The book, filled with spiritual texts and sermons and illustrated in

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

, contains mainly scenes from the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

, including images from the passion of Jesus and the martyrdoms of the apostles. Also incorporated into its pages are pictures of symbolic flowers and other items, as well as twenty hymns. The pages measure six-and-one-half by eight-and-one-half inches, and the whole is bound in leather. The book contains a family register recording births, marriages, and deaths; his own death was noted in the ledger by one of his children. Denig's illustrations depict their subjects dressed in the costume of contemporary Pennsylvania German people. They were painted when the

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 ...

tradition in Pennsylvania was at its height, and accordingly they bear its imprint, as well as the influence of Christian devotional prints and illustrated Bibles popular during the period. Theologically, the book contains moralistic texts and illustrations of sacrifice, reflective of the Pietism then in vogue among some members of the Pennsylvania German Community. Denig's book was published in 1990 as ''The Picture-Bible of Ludwig Denig: A Pennsylvania German Emblem Book''. At the time it was owned by Esther Ipp Schwartz, who had offered it to folklorist

Don Yoder Don Yoder (August 27, 1921– August 11, 2015) was an American folklorist specializing in the study of Pennsylvania Dutch, Quaker, and Amish and other Anabaptist folklife in Pennsylvania who wrote at least 15 books on these subjects. A professor em ...

for study. Early in 2020, it was donated to the

Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware. Winterthur houses one of the richest collections of Americana in the United States. The museum and estate were the home of Henry Francis du Pont ...

.Delamaire, Marie-Stéphanie & Joan Irving, "The Denig Manuscript Project: Art Making in the Early American Borderlands" Winterthur website, n.d.; accessed April 6, 2023

References

1755 births 1830 deaths American male painters 18th-century American painters 18th-century American male artists 19th-century American painters American folk artists Painters from Pennsylvania People from Lancaster, Pennsylvania People from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania American shoemakers American apothecaries People of Pennsylvania in the American Revolution American watercolorists 19th-century American male artists 18th-century American pharmacists 19th-century American pharmacists {{US-painter-stub