John Van Minian (1791-1835) Lived/Active; Pennsylvania

Dear Friend Fair Well
Unsigned, ca. 1820
Watercolor on paper
10” x 7 ½”, 15 ¼” x 12 1/8” with frame.
Over-all in great condition, showing minor wear and pant loss. Paper creased with toning. Framed in a period baluster, blocked-end frame in original paint.
Provenance: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Tillou, Litchfield, Connecticut.
John Van Minian remains to be an obscurely known fraktur artist despite continued efforts to develop a biography for him. According to Gerard Wertkin, Encyclopedia of American Folk Art, “He was initially identified by his signature on a birth record in the collection of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, which has aided in the identification of a body of birth, baptismal, marriage, and family records and decorated religious texts. Examples of his art are known from Berks and Montgomery Counties, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore County, Maryland. Stylistically, Van Minian divided his compositions into carefully ruled sections in which he depicted figures in profile. Men are often seen looking through spyglasses. Other elements of his pictures include stylized floral designs, symbolic, and patriotic elements, such as eagles. Texts are in English or German, often written in an ornate Gothic calligraphy.”