Mary Valentine Bucher1825–1830Sheet: 16 1/2 x 10 1/8 " (41.9 x 25.7 cm)
Frame: 24 x 32 x 3/4 " (61 x 81.3 x 1.9 cm)Watercolor, gouache, ink, pencil on paperGift of Ralph Esmerian2013.1.701547633954P1.2001.15AJacob MaentelDrawingsThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain.SchaefferstownSchaefferstownUnited StatesPennsylvaniaWorks on PaperSchaefferstownRobert Bishop, "Folk Painters of America," New York (E.P. Dutton: 1979) pl. 37.
Young America: A Folk Art History. Jean Lipman, Elizabeth V. Warren and Robert Bishop. New York: Hudson Hills Press in association with the Museum of American Folk Art, 1986, illustrated fig. 9.10. p. 153.
Beatrice B. Garvan and Charles F. Hummel, The Pennsylvania Germans: A Celebration of Their Arts 1683-1850 (Philadelphia: The Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Museum, 1982) pl. 73.
See Charles M. Zerbe, Annals of Schaefferstown, with Some Reference to the Early Jewish Community, Papers and Addresses of the Lebanon County Historical Society, vol. 4, no.10 (1907-1909), pp. 309-310.
Jean Lipman, "Art of the People," American Heritage
"Images of Healing: A Portfolio of Images of American Medical and Pharmaceutical Practice, New York (Media Projects Incorporated: 1980) cover.
Jean Lipman and Tom Armstrong, eds., "American Folk Painters of Three Centuries," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (Hudson Hills Press, Inc.: 1980) 120. Tom Armstrong, eds. Hudson Hills Press in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1980.
Mary C. Black, "Simplicity A Grace: Jacob Manetel in Indiana," Evansville Indiana (Evansville Museum of Arts & Science: 1989) 20.Dr. Bucher (1796-1860) was the son and grandson of two physicians both named Benedict Bucher, according to a letter written on March 2, 1980 by a descendant, Rose Byron. He may have practiced in Lancaster early in his career, and then moved to Schaefferstown (where the Zimmermans lived). His family emigrated from Canton Berne in Switzerland about 1750, settling in Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His three sons were also physicians, as was one of his grandsons. There is also an oil portrait of the doctor. His wife Mary Valentine (1803-1889) was the daughter of Michael Valentine and Lagdalena Stiegel (daughter of Anthony Stiegel a brother of Baron Stiegel the glassmaker). a descendentGerman immigrant Jacob Maentel served in the Second Regiment of the Second Brigade of the Pennsylvania Militia from September 1, 1814, to March 1, 1815, and was naturalized in York County soon after his discharge. Between 1807 and 1846, he painted more than two hundred detailed and anecdotal portraits of neighbors in southeastern Pennsylvania and Indiana. Dr. and Mrs. Bucher were painted in Schaefferstown, where Maentel’s name shares space in the parish register of the St. Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church with many of his subjects, including the Buchers. He is listed in the Indiana tax rolls for New Harmony Township by 1838, where he continued to portray members of the tight-knit German community, some of whom he had known in Pennsylvania.
Dr. Christian Bucher (1796–1860) was a third-generation physician whose portrait shows a floor-to-ceiling medical cabinet with shelves holding labeled bottles of medicinal herbs and chemicals. The large table is laden with medical equipment; a set of keys hangs at Dr. Bucher’s waist, and he is shown in the active pursuit of his profession, grinding a prescription. Mary Valentine Bucher (1803–1889) was descended from Baron Stiegel, the early glassmaker. Mrs. Bucher is shown in her domestic interior, the two portraits united by the inclusion of identical chairs. After his death, Dr. Bucher was remembered in the Lebanon Courier (April 23, 1889) as one of the “well known and highly respected citizens of this county . . . [whose] death will be extensively mourned.”
Stacy C. Hollander, “Mary Valentine Bucher/Dr. Christian Bucher,” exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum. Stacy C. Hollander and Valérie Rousseau, curators. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014.
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.orgP1.2001.15A18251830 2013 1 7 Dr. Bucher (1796-1860) was the son and grandson of two physicians both named Benedict Bucher, according to a letter written on March 2, 1980 by a descendant, Rose Byron. He may have practiced in Lancaster early in his career, and then moved to Schaefferstown (where the Zimmermans lived). His family emigrated from Canton Berne in Switzerland about 1750, settling in Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His three sons were also physicians, as was one of his grandsons. There is also an oil portrait of the doctor. His wife Mary Valentine (1803-1889) was the daughter of Michael Valentine and Lagdalena Stiegel (daughter of Anthony Stiegel a brother of Baron Stiegel the glassmaker). a descendentGerman immigrant Jacob Maentel served in the Second Regiment of the Second Brigade of the Pennsylvania Militia from September 1, 1814, to March 1, 1815, and was naturalized in York County soon after his discharge. Between 1807 and 1846, he painted more than two hundred detailed and anecdotal portraits of neighbors in southeastern Pennsylvania and Indiana. Dr. and Mrs. Bucher were painted in Schaefferstown, where Maentel’s name shares space in the parish register of the St. Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church with many of his subjects, including the Buchers. He is listed in the Indiana tax rolls for New Harmony Township by 1838, where he continued to portray members of the tight-knit German community, some of whom he had known in Pennsylvania.
Dr. Christian Bucher (1796–1860) was a third-generation physician whose portrait shows a floor-to-ceiling medical cabinet with shelves holding labeled bottles of medicinal herbs and chemicals. The large table is laden with medical equipment; a set of keys hangs at Dr. Bucher’s waist, and he is shown in the active pursuit of his profession, grinding a prescription. Mary Valentine Bucher (1803–1889) was descended from Baron Stiegel, the early glassmaker. Mrs. Bucher is shown in her domestic interior, the two portraits united by the inclusion of identical chairs. After his death, Dr. Bucher was remembered in the Lebanon Courier (April 23, 1889) as one of the “well known and highly respected citizens of this county . . . [whose] death will be extensively mourned.”
Stacy C. Hollander, “Mary Valentine Bucher/Dr. Christian Bucher,” exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum. Stacy C. Hollander and Valérie Rousseau, curators. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014.
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