Benjamen Alltorffer (Alderfer) Vorschrift, (painting).

Benjamen Alltorffer (Alderfer) Vorschrift, (painting).

Brachtheiser, Henry, 1762-1788, painter. (possibly by)

Benjamen Alltorffer (Alderfer) Vorschrift, (painting).

The first line of the fraktur vorschrift reads: "Wer Durch Den Glauben Ist gerecht, Der muss nicht sein den sunden knecht." Colors are red, black, green, yellow, and brown. The bottom line reads: "Vorschrift vor Benjamen Alltorffer (in Lower Salford) Geschrieben den ? Juli A. D. 178?" Translation reads: Vorschrift for Benjamin Alderfer in Lower Salford, written the ? July 178? (? dates are missing).

Primitive -- Fractur

Homage -- Alderfer, Benjamin

Mennonite Historians of Eastern Pennsylvania, Mennonite Heritage Center, 565 Yoder Road, P.O. Box 82, Harleysville, Pennsylvania 19438 Accession Number: 88-1-1

Gift of Ziegler, Waldo, family of, Lederach, Pennsylvania 1977.

The piece was made for Benjamin Alderfer, probably in the Salford Meetinghouse School by the schoolmaster who may have been Henry Brachtheiser at that time. Benjamin Alderfer (1771-1840) was the son of Miller John Alderfer and Elizabeth Rosenberger Alderfer of Lower Salford. They were members of the Salford Mennonite congregation. Benjamin Alderfer was the grandson of immigrants Frederick Alderfer and Benjamin Rosenberger. Benjamin Alderfer married Elizabeth Schumacher (1772-1840), the daughter of Michael and Anna Hackman Schumacher of Franconia Township. The couple lived on part of his father's farm along the Branch Creek in Lower Salford (Salfordville and Haldeman Roads). This piece passed down in the family to Benjamin's son, Michael S. Alderfer (18??-1928); to his son, Waldo E. A. Ziegler (1882-1977) who married Anne M. Groff. The piece was found by their children in a family Bible in the attic after Waldo's death in 1977.

Mennonite Historians of Eastern Pennsylvania, 1988.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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