Religious Text with Two Blue Doves for Barbara Landes1792Sheet: 9 7/8 x 8 "
Frame: 18 1/4 x 15 1/4 x 1 1/4 "Watercolor and ink on paperGift of Ralph Esmerian2005.8.350Ornamented at top with two large entwined stylized doves, each with smaller bird hovering over wings; underneath two trumpeting angels float above two flowering tulip plants that flank the verse. In red, yellow, blue, and green.1545533396Johann Adam EyerBooks/Manuscripts/Information ArtifactsThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain.Signed "I.A.E. S.D." lower left, brown ink, all caps. Translation (partial) "Oct. 21st year 1788 Barbara Landes give Jesus thy heart, in joy and in pain, in life and in death. This one thing is essential." A 128United StatesPennsylvaniaWorks on PapereMuseum - Collection HighlightsfrakturInscription (Translation of German):
This belongs to / Barbara Landesin / the 10th of April / 1792 / Jesus, friend of my soul / let yourself / be greeted lovingly, because you [are] my own / wish and my sign of grace. Refresh me through / comfort and heal my conscience, come to me. Without you / I will always be afraid. Help so that the enemy no longer / robs the soul of your love; You are my place of refuge / can cover me very well, oh spread out your wings to your darling / over me, I ask for nothing else. After need and storms / of misfortune, they go behind your word you are / the true fortress and refuge, says the faith of your dove; Since the cross's burden and heat weigh me down so strengthen / me you yourself and be to me a cleft in the rock in which my weary / spirit may be refreshed again. In caves one finds / always more fresh air. Oh be a little hut of many / green branches to your dove; Those borne by you later the psalm of victory / and in the enemy's blood, as heroes do, / ___ as you sin and death and devil have / conquered, from these a little hut is set up for me. Oh most beautiful treasure, give some from this to your dove; Oh hero in Israel, you have given only yourself / and with you everything that can aid / me because I am here obliged through my / entire life, so heed my conclusion, my dearest saviour / I remain even when I breathe for the last time / Your dove.
The two sentimental, religious, and even sensual texts and Adam Eyer prepared for Barbara Landes four years apart raise more questions than they answer. The earlier one is sometimes dubbed "the mystical doves," but while it does mention a dove once, the graphic elements are dominated by a spread eagle, perhaps inspired by the Hapsburg coat of arms. The 1792 fraktur does have two blue doves at the top, and the text is a five-verse hymn in which the singer refers to herself as a dove. Both texts are somewhat mystical (in the religious sense) songs of praise to Jesus reciting what he has done and what he has promised the speaker.
But who was Barbara Landes? Perhaps she was a sister of the Maria Landes for whom Eyer prepared a marriage greeting in 1784, apparently the only piece Eyer completely signed. Or she might have been a sister of Agnes Landes, for whom one of Eyer's spiral texts was made in 1783, or of Abraham Landes, who is named in Eyer's roll book and for whom Eyers made a special Vorschrift booklet in 1780. The schoolmaster was in his thirties when these pieces were made. Barbara, however, is not listed in his roll book. Were they tokens of the love he had for her? They never married. Did she die? Did her Mennonite faith and his strong Lutheran convictions collide?
Frederick S. Weiser, "Religious Text with Two Blue Doves for Barbara Landes," in Stacy C. Hollander, American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 477-478.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org17921792 2005 8 35 frakturInscription (Translation of German):
This belongs to / Barbara Landesin / the 10th of April / 1792 / Jesus, friend of my soul / let yourself / be greeted lovingly, because you [are] my own / wish and my sign of grace. Refresh me through / comfort and heal my conscience, come to me. Without you / I will always be afraid. Help so that the enemy no longer / robs the soul of your love; You are my place of refuge / can cover me very well, oh spread out your wings to your darling / over me, I ask for nothing else. After need and storms / of misfortune, they go behind your word you are / the true fortress and refuge, says the faith of your dove; Since the cross's burden and heat weigh me down so strengthen / me you yourself and be to me a cleft in the rock in which my weary / spirit may be refreshed again. In caves one finds / always more fresh air. Oh be a little hut of many / green branches to your dove; Those borne by you later the psalm of victory / and in the enemy's blood, as heroes do, / ___ as you sin and death and devil have / conquered, from these a little hut is set up for me. Oh most beautiful treasure, give some from this to your dove; Oh hero in Israel, you have given only yourself / and with you everything that can aid / me because I am here obliged through my / entire life, so heed my conclusion, my dearest saviour / I remain even when I breathe for the last time / Your dove.
The two sentimental, religious, and even sensual texts and Adam Eyer prepared for Barbara Landes four years apart raise more questions than they answer. The earlier one is sometimes dubbed "the mystical doves," but while it does mention a dove once, the graphic elements are dominated by a spread eagle, perhaps inspired by the Hapsburg coat of arms. The 1792 fraktur does have two blue doves at the top, and the text is a five-verse hymn in which the singer refers to herself as a dove. Both texts are somewhat mystical (in the religious sense) songs of praise to Jesus reciting what he has done and what he has promised the speaker.
But who was Barbara Landes? Perhaps she was a sister of the Maria Landes for whom Eyer prepared a marriage greeting in 1784, apparently the only piece Eyer completely signed. Or she might have been a sister of Agnes Landes, for whom one of Eyer's spiral texts was made in 1783, or of Abraham Landes, who is named in Eyer's roll book and for whom Eyers made a special Vorschrift booklet in 1780. The schoolmaster was in his thirties when these pieces were made. Barbara, however, is not listed in his roll book. Were they tokens of the love he had for her? They never married. Did she die? Did her Mennonite faith and his strong Lutheran convictions collide?
Frederick S. Weiser, "Religious Text with Two Blue Doves for Barbara Landes," in Stacy C. Hollander, American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 477-478.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org