Content provided in partnership with

The frakturs of Susanna Heebner

Magazine Antiques, Feb, 1996 by Irene N. Walsh

Schwenkfelder frakturs are the most colorful and decorative of all Pennsylvania-German frakturs, reflecting the Silesian origin of the Schwenkfelders, the easternmost of the Germanic groups that immigrated to Pennsylvania. Silesia, now incorporated into Poland and the Czech Republic, was then part of Prussia, on trade routes that extended from the Near East to the valley of the Danube River. It is only in the frakturs of the Schwenkfelders that a Near Eastern influence is prominent - in their many variations of the urn-and-plant motif, the colors they used, and their elaborate decorative traditions.(3)

Most Popular Articles in Home & Garden: Coolest room on the block: have a bedroom that's way drab and boring? Hang ...; Reuse, recycle, remodel: environmentally friendly materials and techniques ...; Keeping it simple: interior designer Michael Lee finds an overdesigned ...; House of the Year: this craftsman-inspired home is factory-built--proving ...; Dreaming of cabin life: smart ideas for small spaces, plus the hottest spots ...; More »

Kaspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig (1489-1561), becoming disenchanted with Lutheranism, founded a sect that drew on German and particularly Silesian mysticism and emphasized the exclusively spiritual nature of the Christian church. Long persecuted in Silesia, the Schwenkfelders preserved their religious traditions by copying their manuscripts, a practice they continued in Pennsylvania. Schwenkfelder fraktur began as decoration for their treasured manuscript hymnals.(4) As one historian has written,

The hymnal was the thesaurus of faith, their poetry, their pastime. Is it any wonder then that these images escaped from the hymnal to illuminated writings and other manifestations of their religious art?(5)

Schwenkfelder frakturs consist mainly of Vorschriften (writing samples) that transcribe Biblical texts or verses from the sect's hymns and often begin with a large and extremely ornate capital letter. The verses from their beloved hymns often replace the alphabets and numerals usually found at the bottom of this form of fraktur. The Taufschein (baptismal certificate), found in abundance among Lutheran and Reformed groups in Pennsylvania, is absent among the Schwenkfelders, who believed in deferring baptism until adulthood.

Atypically, Schwenkfelder women as well as men are known to have made frakturs.(6) The most renowned is Susanna Heebner, the second of six children born to Hans Christopher Heebner (1718-1804), a prominent Schwenkfelder leader who immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1737, and his wife, Barbara Schultz (1720-1786). When Hans Christopher Heebner died, the title to his land became vested in his two surviving children, Susanna, fifty-four and unmarried, and Abraham (1760-1838), forty-four, the married father of six children. Both Susanna and Abraham produced frakturs, but Abraham's, chiefly executed in black ink with a quill pen, are much less elaborate than his sister's. It is not known where Susanna received her instruction in making frakturs, but she was indisputably an expert in the elaborate techniques of the Schwenkfelder school during its finest period.

The signed but undated fraktur shown in Plate I contains the glowing colors and ornate, fanciful motifs that strongly reflect both Susanna Heebner's Silesian heritage and the obvious pleasure she took in creating the work. Among her finest frakturs are three religious texts that are signed and dated on the back (Pls. III-V). Particularly beautiful is the copy of the Sommerlied (Summer Song) by the Pietist hymnist Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676), which begins "Go forth, my heart, and seek delight/In all the gifts of God's great might" (Pl. III).(7) Her religious text dated August 12, 1807 (Pl. V), here cited in part, praises the virtues of quietude:

How blessed is he who takes his pleasure in quietude and can forget the mouths that prattle, causing envy and hurtful jealousy, making true service insincere. Quietude is my rest; I hear much and remain quiet with it all.(8)

The third illumination begins "Virtue is the adornment of youth and the treasure and crown of old age."(9) Delicate strapwork connects the letters of the top line, and at the bottom hearts sprouting flowers contain pious precepts (Pl. IV).

In 1808 she illuminated one religious text for each of her six nephews and nieces. These Vorschriften include the recipient's name in fraktur letters at the top and Biblical references containing the name. Hearts from which flowers bloom fill the corners and contain the precept "O noble heart, think of your end. Who knows how soon the walk will be finished."(10) For her nephew David she invoked David, the Biblical shepherd, and admonished him to serve only God. For her niece Debora she copied this verse from a hymn:

Flee the sin, love the virtue, make the beginning in your youth, keep on with it and do not desist from it until you are in your grave; and out of grace the Highest will give you eternal life.

For her niece Maria she adapted a verse from the Gospel according to Saint Luke: "Maria has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her, says our Savior" (Pl. XI).(11) For her niece Susanna, the first and most embellished line of the fraktur reads "Susanna lifted her eyes toward heaven." On the frakturs for Jacob (Pl. VII) and Isaac the colorful initial letters are in the finest tradition of Schwenkfelder elaboration. For Abraham she wrote of the cedar trees that "stand exceedingly beautiful on the hills of Lebanon." Scalloped borders decorate the tops of the fraktur letters, and elaborate strap-work links them. There is exuberance in these pieces - a joy that is evident in the hearts, flowers, and little cedar trees that fill every available space. The large fraktur letters are colored in red, yellow, brown, and blue, while the distinctive German cursive writing in the lower sections is rendered alternately in red and brown ink.

The frakturs of Susanna Heebner

Magazine Antiques, Feb, 1996 by Irene N. Walsh

Find Research Guides for:

Find Featured Titles for: Health

Most Popular Articles in Home & Garden

Most Popular Publications in Home & Garden