,,Mein GOTT-SURE WHAT A PITY! TO GET DROWN'D."' GEORGE FREDERICK KRIMMEL'S faltering English expressed the shock of other Philadelphians when they, too, learned of his brother's death on that Sunday afternoon during the Summer of 1821. John Lewis Krimmel's youth and expectations increased the pathos. He was thirty-five years old, president of the Assocation for American Artists, and preparing his most prestigious commission. Krimmel had gained professional and public recognition only after a decade of effort in his adopted city. His native village was Ebingen in Württemberg. It lay among wooded hills with jagged outcroppings of stone and commanded a spacious valley gently sweeping into the central European plains. Poor soils had limited farming, but Ebingen had grown slowly during tbe Middle Ages as a trading center and prospered in tbe eighteenth century with the dyeing and weaving of coarse textiles.(2) The village was still rural during Krimmel's youth. Four- and five-story half-timbered houses with orange tile roofs steeply pitched against the snow closely lined the rutted lanes (Sketchbook 3, 5), and the belltower of the village church rose high above rooftops and watchtowers at the old city gates. Stables witb double doors opened to the street from most houses, and their owners prized the meadows where their cattle grazed. Industrious and shrewd, the Krimmels had flourished with Ebingen. Johann Jacob, John Lewis Krimmel's father, became an orphan at ten when the widower innkeeper Johannes Krimmel died on October 25, 1760. His six surviving children shared an estate equalled by few in the village. The oldest son successfully continued the family inn and eventually became mayor. He generously cared for his younger brother Johann Jacob until he came of age.(3) Johann then took his place in Ebingen as a confectioner and married Elisabetha Catharina Nördlinger, daughter of a lacemaker and court secretary in the neighboring village of Pfullingen, on November 24, 1774. Johann Ludwig Krimmel was born on May 30, 1786. Named for his father and a paternal uncle, the future artist was the fifth of the six children born to Elisabetha and Johann and one of three to survive childhood.(4) He anglicized his name in Philadelphia, where his friend Abraham Ritter wrote of his mature character and appearance:

 JLK was about 5 feet 9 in high. Slim and of very Elastic, wiry motion--light complexion  Hair Light Brown and curling. BIue eyes. Pleasing expression of countenance, the index  of a fertile Imagination weil gilt with Wit & Humor!(5)

The brothers' decision to leave Württemberg can be traced to the turmoil of Western Europe during tbe Napoleonic Wars. Frederick II, Duke of Württemberg, at first had resisted the French. Napoleon forced a truce in 1801 and shrewdly gained an ally through a territorial grant in 1802. Frederick supplied troops for the French campaigns of 1805 and in 1806 brought Württemberg into the major Napoleonic campaigns by joining the Confederation of the Rhine. His lands suffered invasion but his troops won in the struggle against Austria on July 5 and 6, 1809.(14) During these years, John gained the experience of travel through the support, evidently, of his brother and sister. George Erederick gave him the last and most generous of his payments in June of 1805, shortly after Christiane and her husband arranged their purchase for the family property in Ebingen. In March 1806 John was living in Stuttgart, the capital of Württemberg;(15) by July 1809 he was living in England and working as a clerk to a merchant;(16) within four months he would reach America. 

Between 1805 and 1809, John also received instruction in the arts. A decade after John's death his acquaintances could recall few of his remarks about his youth, but his biographer William Dunlap did receive comment about his first instructor, Johann Baptist Seele. This information, diligently researched and carefully recorded, did not appear in Dunlap's biographical history of the American arts that was published in 1834. Entitled the History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States, it included only one brief statement about Krimmel's training: ,,He had been well instructed in drawing and the management of colors."(17) Dunlap was vague because he had overlooked his notes about Krimmel's instructor. His diary from March 1832 to June 1833, in which he noted miscellaneous information about the lives of American artists for his History, includes a fragmentary reference to Krimmel's training: ,,Was taught drawing by [blank] the Dukes painter a man of talents." Dunlap also wrote at the back of the diary, when the volume was turned upside down: ,,Seeley the name of Krimmels teacher at home. His excellence--dismissed by the Duke of Wirtemberg--Bonaparte employs him."(18) Dunlap does not reveal the sources of his information, but his references obviously are to Johann Baptist Seele (1774-1814), court painter to the Duke of Württemberg. He had studied at the Academy in Stuttgart from 1789 to 1792 and had been appointed court painter and director of the Stuttgart Gallery in 1804. In 1808 and again in 1809, he briefly left Stuttgart for study in Munich. (19) Krimmel's relationship with Seele cannot be documented through records in Stutt gart,(20) but circumstantial evidence supports Dunlap's memoranda. The lives of Seele and Krimmel did briefly cross in Stuttgart at least in 1806, when both are documented as living there. Krimmel's paintings also echo in technique and in subject matter those of the proficient painter of genre, portraiture, and historical events, and Krimmel's drawings in pencil and sketches in water colors at the time he arrived in Philadelphia reveal professional instruction (Sketchbook 1, 1). George Frederick Kimmel also left Europe during these years. With his wife, Susannah, he had sailed in 1807 for Philadelphia.(21) There he joined relatives descended from a great aunt, Christina Dorothea Krimmel Beck, and her husband, Johann Andreas Beck, who had emigrated from Ebingen about 1745.(22) George entered his occupation in the city directory of 1808 as that of a ,,merchant".(23) On September22 of the following year, he became a citizen of the United States.(24) 

John was twenty-three when he joined his brother in Philadelphia. George later claimed that he became a member of his household on November 1, 1809.(25) Several years after John's death, William Dunlap apparently learned from the Swiss or German artist Alexander Rider (26) that John came at his brother's request for help with his business and that the two artists had sailed together to the United States.(27) Philadelphia offered in 1809 the most congenial environment of all American cities for John's talents. Modest as the city was against the standard of London, it had been second in the British Empire during the eighteenth century. In the early nineteenth, it offered an ease and grace one English observer missed in its bustling rival of New York City.(28) But John's exhibition in the city to the north within a decade after reaching the United States coincided with the rise of that city as the commercial and critical center of American art. William Penn had planned Philadelphia in the late seventeenth century as a city a mile wide between the Delaware and the Schuylkill rivers; within this rectangle, streets intersected at right angles with a regularity unknown in the haphazard growth of most European and American cities.(29) Houses, mainly of brick and held at three to four stories, lined streets broad in comparison to the narrow lanes of European cities, and the recently introduced Lombardy poplar skirted the wide brick sidewalks (Sketchbook 5, p. 24). Philadelphia reached half-way across the area planned for it between the two rivers. Congestion along the Delaware gradually thinned inland to occasional houses and vacant lots. The plot Penn had designated as his Centre Square was so removed from the life of the city that a decade before Krimmel's arrival Benjamin Henry Latrobe had built his pumping station there for the city water system (No. 1). The reputation of Philadelphia as a center for the art's equalled that in civic conveniences, science, medicine, and literature. The founding of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1805 led to the opening of a museum there in 1806.(30) lt offered a permanent exhibition of casts from Greek and Roman sculpture, and, during the second decade of the nineteenth century exhibitions of paintings with optimistic attributions to acknowledged European masters and by contemporary Americans. These exhibitions were more ambitious than any other effort in the former British colonies. Painters and engravers living in Philadelphia exceeded in number those of New York or Boston; early in Krimmel's career, they formed an organization to conduct schools and exhibitions. 

Krimmel worked with his brother during his first months in Philadelphia.(31) As a member of George Frederick Krimmel's household,(32) he dined with the family and his sister-in-law, Susannah, washed and mended his clothing.(33) John found time to sketch in pencil and paint in water colors (Sketchbook 1, 1). He may have attempted oil paintings, such as the one Abraham Ritter observed in George's house (No. 47), a rented dwelling he described as being on the outskirts of the city near the corner of Eleventh and Market streets and close to Latrobe's pump house on Centre Square:

In this residence, over the door of the entrance from the back building, there hung a family picture of our artist, representing his entrance into the room with a newspaper in his hand, smiling as he was wont at the group of Mrs. K and her children, as they stood by her lap in which every likeness was to the very life.(34)

He at first painted portraits, and those of the master and mistress of his boarding house, and the boarders who were its inmates introduced others, until he found himself independent, or only dependent on his own exertions. I have reason to believe that these portraits were miniatures in oil, somewhat in size like those with which Mr. (John) Trumball commenced his career. (36)

Received Feby 28th 1811 of Mr Rider fifteen Dollars in full for one quarters rent Due l3th Instant.(36)

Krimmel entered the artistic life of Philadelphia through the Society of Artists of the United States, which he had joined by the spring of 1811. Approximately sixty artists organized the Society on May 10, 1810, as a complement to the activities of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. They observed that the directors of the acadetmy were devoting their new building of 1807 to plaster casts from Greek and Roman sculpture and decided the institution was confining its activities to this interest.(51) The artists formed their own organization with four objectives: to organize schools for instruction of artists, to provide a medium for the exchange of ideas between artists on a national scale, to encourage public interest in contemporary art through regular exhibitions, and to establish an emergency relief fund for members.(52) In August 1810 the society and the academy made agreements of mutual benefit. In return for subscribing to the nonvoting capital stock, the society gained free admission to the academy for its members, the use of collections for study, rooms to conduct schools, and the privilege of holding in the academy building an annual exhibition from which the society was to receive half of the admission fees.(53) For Krimmel, the Society of Artists served its purpose. He drew casts owned by the academy in January 1811 (Sketchbook 1, p. 31), a privilege of membership suggesting that he may have joined the organization before his earliest documented association in May 1811. Krimmel regularly participated in the annual exhibitions held for members. In addition to professional advantages of the organization, at least two Philadelphians who were members of the society became Krimmel's close friends. These men were the painter Thomas Birch and the engraver Alexander Lawson. (54) In May 1811, the academy and the society organized the first of the four annual exhibitions which they cosponsored. Krimmel, as an ,,Associate Artist of the Society(55) (a professional member not on the governing body),(56) entered four paintings. His titles offer the only dues to the subjects. One he may have brought with him or painted during his first eighteen months in Philadelphia, when memories of Europe were still vivid. He titled it Raspberry Girls of the Alps of Württembergin Germany, Having Lost Themselves in a Wood, They are found by a Boy. Who Conducts Them Safely Home (No. 15). Another painting identified as Aurora suggests a classical theme (No. 13) and Celadon and Amelia a literary subject (No. 14). A fourth entry Pepper-pot, A Scene in the Philadelphia Market (No. 12), reveals Krimmel's interest in American subject matter. This theme soon dominated his work. Only Krimmel and Rider identified themselves in the exhibition as ,,Fancy Painters."(57) American artists rarely used this English term for character studies or genre themes, and both Krimmel and Rider abandoned it after this first exhibition of the society.(58) A year later, in 1812, Krimmel identified himself as a portrait painter and entered three paintings in the Second Annual Exhibition at the Pennsylvaria Academy.(50) The subject matter of two entries, The Contrast (No. 17) and The Accident (No. 16) cannot be identified. The third, View of Centre Square on the 4th of July (No. 1), is Krimmel's earliest painting known to survive. Within the setting of Latrobe's pump house for the city waterworks and William Rush's fountain sculpture entitled Water Nymph and Bittern, Krimmel represents the holiday promenade of Philadelphians. He obtained his first public notice through the painting. A critic for The Port Folio, the most influential American magazine during the first two decades of the nineteenth century approved the subject matter in reviewing the exhibition but criticized the execution of the painting.(60) Krimmel's second exhibition, consequently, was not an unqualified success, but it was encouraging. 

Krimmel's interest in American subject matter, evident in the exhibition of 1812, is further revealed by his sketching tours in the Pennsylvania countryside. He ranged from the environs of the city to distant areas identified by notations on surviving drawings. He toured, for example, in the area of Bethlehem and Easton in the summer of 1813 (Sketchbook 2, pp. 11, 13), and he traveled to Chambersburg between 1813 and 1816 (Sketchbook 2, p. 31). In 1819, he again returned to Easton. Sketches in pencil, ink, and water colors record his interest in every facet of rural life, from unusual personalities (Sketchbook 5, p. 7) to domestic animals (Sketchbook 5, pp. 9, 10), plants (Sketchbook 5, p. 15), and farm buildings (Sketchbook 5, p. 35). Krimmel occasionally traveled with other artists on these tours. William Albright joined him on a trip near Philadelphia, probably in the summer of 1819 (Sketchbook 5, p. 19), and Alexander Rider traveled with him to an unknown location in the summer of 1812 or 1813. In an undated letter written during this journey with Rider, Krimmel urged Thomas Birch to join them and revealed his enthusiasm for these painting holidays:

Dear Birch

Atthough I expected, You would make up yur mind, and take a trip to this place, I had not the pleasure, to see You yet. Indeed if you knew, what a beautiful Scenery surrounds this place, You would not hesitate to come. To convince Yourself more, ask Mr. Sansom (Joseph?)(61) or Mr. Rush.(62) Both were here, a few weeks ago, and expressed several times, that this would be one of the finest [two now illegible words marked out] countrys for You, to study from -I am sure there are very few places in the United States, who offer so much Variety at so little trouble to a landscape Painter, for where ever you go, You find something, worth to be sketched. The expense, which is the only thing to deter you, cannot amount to a great summ, since boarding in the Hotel here, cost's only $3 a week, the first week cost's $3½; and the benefit which You receive not only for Your health, but for Your art will repay You a hundred fold.

    Now then Birch, do, come, and if possible with my friend Mr. Fleegel, since I intend to leave this place in a short time, for Your sake I shall stay longer. Should you, which I hope not, be not able, to go, please to tell my friend,  when the "Life Academie" begins;-I am with esteem             Yours             [signed] J. Lewis Krimmel

P.S. Mr Rider [word illegible through torn page] respects to you.(63)

Krimmel returned to Europe late in 1816 to settle the estate of his sister Christiane, who had died on October 10, 1815.(69) On October 16, 1816, George Frederick Krimmel prepared a document in Philadelphia instructing the Ebingen court about his interest in Christiane's property. John, taking it with him for presentation with his own declaration,(70) left on a leisurely trip extending about two years. His first respite on the voyage was a tour of the stark Bermuda Islands in November of 1816. Krimmel's sketchbooks serve as a pictorial diary of this interval and his other travels. Geographic features attracting his interest in Bermuda were Walsingham Cave (Sketchbook 2, p. 34) in Hamilton Parish and St. David's Head and Island (Sketchbook 2, p. 38). In addition to these subjects and the local vegetation, he observed residents of the islands with his usual intensity (Sketchbook 2, p. 39). Passing through Paris on his way to Württemberg (Sketchbook 4, p. 1), Krimmel arrived in Ebingen by March of 1817.(71) On May 5, be first testified before the Ebingen Court in proceedings over his sister's estate.(72) News of a depression in Württemberg would have reached Philadelphia before John's departure and could have influenced decisions by the Krimmel brothers about the family property being purchased by their sister and brother-in-law.(73) When the village court adjourned in May, John's testimony and George's written instructions waived their claims against Christiane's estate in favor of her four children, the youngest of whom was KrimmeI's namesake, five-year-old Johann Ludwig Daser.(74) George stated in his letter to the Ebingen court that his action was a sacrifice, and indeed, he had suffered heavy losses on sugar loaf and nutmeg when the inflation of the war years abruptly fell into the depression of 1815.(75) 

Some of Krimmel's travels, impressions, and interests over the year-and-a-half that he remained abroad after settling his sister's estate can be reconstructed from his sketchbooks. The setting, buildings, and residents of Ebingen were absorbing subjects (Sketchbook 3, pp. 1, 3, 4, 5, 10). Journeys from the village began in the spring of 1818, when John traveled to Vienna (see Sketchbook 3); he stopped in Salzburg, perhaps in Munich, to transact business over lithographic supplies for John Watts of New York,(76) then continued to the Danube where he took passage on a vessel. Shifting vistas of the river as it flowed through granite channels below isolated villages and fortresses preoccupied him from Litz to a destination far downstream. Enroute to America, he sketched similar views in September 1818 during a voyage on the Rhine between Mainz and Cologne (See Sketcbbook 3). Other subjects, ranging from elephants and a kangaroo to women conversing (Sketchbook 3, pp. 68, 69), reflect an interest in the typical as well as the unusual. Late in 1818 or early in 1819, John returned to Philadelphia. 

While traveling abroad, Krimmel's paintings were exhibited in New York City. The American Academy of tbe Fine Arts, after moving to new quarters in the "Old Alms House" in 1816, had organized one of the most successful exhibitions in its history and entered a new phase of vigorous activity.(77) Krimmel's paintings appearing in the exbibition of 1816 were the Young Bird (No. 26) and The Jews Harp (No. 20); both repeat titles of prints reproducing paintings by Sir David Wilkie. 

Owners of paintings are not listed in the catalogue, an omission suggesting that the pictures had not been sold and were exhibited for Krimmel by a friend. There is evidence of his associations in the city as early as 1813 with John Appel, owner of a music shop(78), and with a "Schroeder," perhaps the obscure portrait and miniature painter whose surname began with the initial "C."(79) Before 1816, Krimmel could have known the New Yorkers Pierre Flandin, who was acting as his agent in 182O,(80 and Francis Bayard Winthrop, a patron.(81) Any of these several men, concerned as they were for Krimmel's welfare, could have cared for his paintings and entered them for him in the exhibition of 1816. Krimmel renewed associations in Philadelphia and attended with twenty other Philadelphians an election of the Association of American Artists on April 6, 1819.(82) This little-known organization succeeded the Columbian Society of Artists and was smaller than other groups in which Krimmel had participated. The association, instead of cosponsoring annual exbibitions at the Pennsylvania Academy, opened a gallery. Samuel Kennedy served as secretary of the society and supervised the gallery, which was located in his shop for frames and looking-glasses.(83) Krimmel actively supported the organization. and became the president of it shortly before his death. 

Men interviewed in the early 1530s by Krimmel's biographer, William Dunlap, reported that Krimmel partly supported himself during his years in Philadelphia by teaching drawing in a boarding school for girls. His last employment in this capacity, after his return from Europe in 1818, ended abruptly. Dunlap wrote:

Krimmel, like an honest and conscientious man, was in the habit of teaching the girls what to do, how to do, and then leaving them to do it, under instruction. The consequence was, that his pupils did not produce in a given time, such pretty pictures as were presented to their parents by the young ladies of a rival establishment, where the cunning and complaisant teacher put his lessons in pracice by finishing the work his pupils were utterly incompetent to the production of, and thus cheating papas and mamas, and increasing the reputation of the school. Krimmel was told by the proprietor of the estabtishment that he must not only teach her scholars to draw and paint, but must draw and paint for them, or give up the school. The unbending Wurttenberger did not choose to be an agent in deceit, and chose the latter part of the conditions. Honesty, poverty, a clear conscience and independende were preferable, in his mind, to money, servility, and falsehood.(84)

Friday evening I returned to this City, and yesterday I learned from Mr. [Thomas] Birch, that he sent you the 3 pictures. I am very anxious to know, how you are pleased with them; if they were varnish'd, they would show to better advantage. You might give them; after exposing them for about half a day to the Sun, a slight Coat of Varnish now; and then you would better judge of the Effect and Finish. I took the liberty, to send an Order of $35 balance due on these 3 pictures, to a particular friend of mine Mr E A. Schneider,(86) who will present it to You. Would you think it advisable for me to pay a Visit there, with my Pictures of the dance [No. 8] and Sleighing Party [No 24] [,,&c." marked through]? Did any of your Amateurs see your Pictures, and is there any hope of encouragement? I expect your candid Remarks and Opinion with your next.()

Collaboration with printmakers in Philadelphia during these years supplemented Krimmel's income and both reflected and enhanced his growing reputation. About 1820, the Sellers and Pennock Fire Equipment Company commissioned a trade card engraved by William Kneass and designed by Krimmel (No. 97). It is the only trade card by Krimmel known to survive, but he may have been responsible for others; his sketches, for example, include designs for a trade card or advertisement for the Philadelphia hatter Daniel Oldenburgh (Sketchbook 6, p. 47). A commission in the spring of 1819 resulted in one of the most ambitious prints of the time. Unusually large, it was done in aquatint, a technique well established in England but rare in the United States. Krimmel's membership in the Association of American Artists may have led to his collaboration on The Conflagration of the Masonic Hall, Chestnut Street, Philadelphia (No. 96, First State). Two members of the society, Samuel Kennedy and Samuel West, published the print and another member, Samuel Jones, probably drew the architectural features. Krimmel was not at first included in the venture. After the original prospectus had been issued, Kennedy and West invited him to draw figures for the foreground (No. 9). John Hill, a recent immigrant from England and the most skilled aquatint engraver in the United States, produced the plate. 

Two years later, shorfly after Krimmel's death, Joseph Yeager engraved another watercolor sketch by Krimmel (no. 68) for Procession of the Victuallers (No. 105, First State). This print also ranked in size and quality among the foremost efforts of the period. It is unknown whether or not Krimmel produced his representation of the scene for Yeager, or if Yeager acquired it after Krimmel's death from his estate. Krimmel entered into other negotiations for prints during these years. He applied for a commission being awarded by the governing body of the Pennsylvania Hospital for production of a drawing for the proposed engraving of Christ Healing the Sick, the painting given to the hospital by Benjamin West and exhibited there since 1815.(88) Thomas Sully, the Philadelphia artist, endorsed Krimmel as an able candidate, but the plan did not materialize.(89) John Hill, who had engraved the plate for the Burning of the Masonic Hall, visited Krimmel on April 18, 1820, for discussion of his paintings, but there is no evidence of their collaboration on other prints.(97) 

Krimmel also turned to another major source of income for American artists, the portrait. He had identified himself as a portrait painter before his interval abroad and continued the practice in Philadelphia and New York City when he returned. 

Krimmel's two documented portraits are from the latter part of his American career. A notation in his sketchbooks suggests that in November or December of 1818 he completed the earliest, his portrait of Jacob Ritter, Sr. (No. 7). The commission may have originated through the son and namesake of this Philadelphian, who was a friend of the Krimmel brothers and George's partner in an occasional shipping venture. In the following year, Krimmel painted the aging John G. E. Heckewelder (No. 10). This prominent Moravian missionary from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was the author of a book entitled an Account of the History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Natives Who Once Inhabited Pennsylvania and the Neighboring States (1819). Heckewelder had not commissioned the portrait. Krimmel painted it for his own motives, perhaps to demonstrate his skills. After exhibiting it for a year in his studio, he sold it to the Philadelphia lawyer Peter S. Du Ponceau. It was he who had encouraged Heckewelder to write the Account, and, through the sale, Krimmel gained a devoted patron instrumental in obtaining a significant commission (91). Krimmel's critical success in the second phase of his American career-publicity in periodicals, exhibition of his work in New York and Philadelphia, circulation of prints based on his work, and elechon to the presidency of the Assodation of American Artists(92) -- was ironic by the spring of 1821. He could not sell his work to the public. Alexander Lawson, with whom he discussed his depressing affairs, encouraged Krimmel to "persevere" and continue painting his preferred genre subjects.(93) Krimmel may have followed his advice. In the spring of 1821, the exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy included Sleighing Frolic (No. 24), a painting of the same tide as the one he had offered to Pierre Flandin the previous fall, and a painting he had never exhibited, Cherry Woman and Children (No. 41). 

Late in the spring of 1821, Krimmel's fortunes changed when seventeen Philadelphians commissioned a painting entitled The Landing of William Penn at Newcastle in October 1682. Only three of the subscribers have been identified: Joseph P. Norris, Robert Vaux, and Peter S. Du Ponceau.(94) These Philadelphians and probably others underwriting the cost of the painting helped organize in 1825 a group of eighteen men into the Society for the Commemoration of the Landing of William Penn.(95) Krimmel's subject and the society expressed the growing pride among Philadelphians in Penn's contributions to American history.(96) A current vogue among painters in Philadelphia called for Biblical, mythological, and historical subjects on a large scale, (97) and Krimmel's canvas was to conform to the fashion. It was to be nine feet wide and six feet high, a significant difference from Krimmel's twenty-four by eighteen-inch format. On completing the painting, subscribers gave Krimmel the right of exhibition fees for six months. They then intended to present the painting to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.(98) Du Ponceau was prominent among the subscribers. In the spring of 1821, while planning a celebration in honor of Penn's landing, he helped Krimmel with documentation for the painting. On June 28 he wrote Vaux: "The picture will, I hope, be executed in a manner that will do us honor. I am going in a few days to New Castle [Delaware] with the Painter [Krimmel] to examine the site & obtain local information. You see I neglect nothing for what I have at heart."(99) 

Krimmel did not live to complete the painting. His accidental death on July 15, 1821 and its occurrence shortly after he had received a commission of such importance, held a tragic appeal for his contemporaries. An informant who signed his name "H" and who may have been the engraver William Humphrey,(100) secretary for the Association of American Artists, reported the accident in rich detail to Relf's Philadelphia Gazette and Daily Advertiser (July 21, 1821):
 

The Universal regret excited by the late melancholy circumstances of the death of the lamented Krimmel, president of the Society of American Artists, is alike honorable to the memory of the deceased, and creditable to the feeling of the community; but how fleeting and evanescent, although affectionate and honorable, are the testimonials of respect paid to his memory, by his friends, and the members of the society of which he was the head & ornament, to what his own genius would have bequeathed, had he lived to execute the contemplated panting of Penn's landing, which, from the felicity of his talent in delineating nature, we have no hesitation in saying, would have been an unequivocal evidence of his intellectual taste and discernment--an honor to himself, and a credit to his country. But to eulogize departed worth and talent is not the object of this cursory notice--it is to gratify those who mourn his loss, by the assurance, that no means that humanity conld suggest, or friendship perform, were left untried for his restoration.

He had dined on Sunday last, near Mount Airy College, and early after dinner, on his return stop at a friend's house, near Germantown, where surrounded by those whome he was esteemed, he remained until 5 o'clock in social and animated conversation. At this time, he and two friends left the company for the purpose of bathing in Mr. Thorpe's mill dam near the house, and was observed by a lad on a rock, from which he plunged, his two friends having previously gone in, to strike his stomach forcibly on the surface of the water, to which probably his premature death is attributable, as his immersion was not deep, for he rose directly, but with a gurgling noise in his throat, and a confused movement of his arm, when the lad prudently extending a board to him, which he grasped, but soon relinquished, partially sunk, rose again, with water issuing from his mouth, made a few convulsive struggles, and, with his head inclining backward, and his arms extended above his head, sunk to rise no more; the cries of the boy instantly brought his friends to the spot, one of whom had twice dived for him, before Mr. J. Thorpe reached the place; when his son, who had thus exerted himself, although exhausted by fright and exertion, at his father's request and desire, made a third effort, and discovered him a few feet from where he went down, in a depth of not more than eight feet water, laying on his face, at the bottom, from which, by the joint exertion of his friends, he was instantly raised and, with anxious hope of resuscitation, being but about 7 minutes under water, he was carried to a warm room and bath, and such uncommon pains taken to restore him, even after medical skill pronounced it unavailing, that had not the vital spark of life been totally and forever wrecked and extinct, he would soon have been restored to the delight of his friends, as a blessing to his family, and an ornament to his profession and society--But such was not the will of Heaven.

At a special meeting of the Association of American Artists, held on the l6th July, 1821, in consequence of the premature and accidental decease of their late president, J. L. Krimmel, Esq. It was unanimously Resolved, That this Association, feeling the almost irreparable loss which they have sustained as a body to which the deceased had endeared himself not more by his talents than his manners; in token of respect to his memory, the Members of the Association will wear crape on the left arm for six weeks.

Krimmel died intestate. Pennsylvania law consequently required a detailed record of the deceased's propert, the sale of it, and the payment of claims against the estate. As a result, the administration papers for Krimmel's estate offer an unusual insight into his affairs. An incomplete, but nevertheless informative record, has survived of Krimmel's possessions. His savings amounted to $118.60, only pennies less than his clothing which was valued at $119.54.(107) Krimmel had furnished his residence and studio, apparently in an inn or rooming house, with a secretary described as "handsome" (108) and a mirror appraised at $4.00.(l09) Equipment he used in painting included four paint saucers, twelve dozen brushes, a case of drawing instruments, and a camera obscura. Krimmel owned at least one pubication on art described as "Sketches of the Most Celebrated Works of Sir Benjamin West--engraved." In addition to this book, he had a five-volume edition of Gil Blas, one volume consisting of illustrations. An unspecified number of engravings by William Hogarth were among his prints. 

Works by Krimmel in his estate included "A Portfolio of studies, from the human body, drawn from life by KRIMMEL" (No. 95), nine oil paintings, five water color sketches, and three India ink drawings. Four of the oil paintings were framed: Country Frolic and Dance (No. 8), Sleighing Frolic (No. 24), Head of a Young Female (No. 35), and German Peasant Girl (No. 27). Three works were sketched in oil and entitled The Tea Party (No. 61), The Honey Pot (No. 60), and German Funeral (No. 62). One ,,unfinished" oil painting was a ,,scene in a country tavern during the late war" (No. 58). Watercolor sketches by Krimmel were Fourth of July (No. 66), Cherry Woman (No. 77), The General Election at State House (No.65), Butcher's Procession (No. 68), and M' Donough's Victory on the Lakes (No. 73). Drawings in India ink were Departure for a Boarding School (No. 74), Return from Boarding School (No. 75), and The Cut Finger (No. 71). 

Krimmel owned a few works by other artists. One was a ,,picture" described as a ,,Landscape from the Italian School, framed." Others were a group of drawings identified as ,,Flemish Sketches from the Ancient Masters" by the Swedish artist Adolph Ulrich Wertmüller, whose drawings and paintings had been auctioned in Philadelphia in 1812 (a year after his death in Delaware).(110) Within a month after Krimmel's death, his executors, George Frederick Krimmel and Dr/ David Condie,(111) arranged the sale of his possessions. Before it took place, George Frederick Krimmel charged one painting to himself in his account of the estate(112) (No. 30), and four men bought objects. These were Nathaniel Devaltooth, an English merchant living in Boston,(113) a ,,Strickland," who may have been the architect William Strickland;(114)4 a ,,Birch," who probably was the artist Thomas Birch; and an ,,M. [Mr.?] ?] Murray," perhaps the engraver George Murray.(115) A well-publicised auction conducted by Titon Grelaud sold the remainder of Krimmel's effects for a total of $359.15.(116) One participant in this auction is known: the artist John Neagle bought brushes, many of which he discovered were too small for his own use and later gave to Alexander Rider(117) . Krimmel's estate was not settled until seven years after his death. In the spring of 1822, Dr. Condie's payments to two framers reveal the men working for Krimmel at the close of his career: Samuel Kennedy received $26.25 and Marinus W. Pike $7.25.(118) A disagreement between the administrators postponed settlement until November 3, 1828. The Orphan's Court of Philadelphia then awarded George Frederick Krimmel the entire sum realized from his brother's estate, $874.66.(119) 

John Lewis Krimmel did not become a naturalized citizen of the United States,(120) like his brother, yet after his journey to Europe in 1816 and 1817, he returned to America. An optimistic view of his future would have been justified, because he held a secure personal and critical position in the artistic circles of his adopted country. John Neagle, who started his career as an artist in 1818, wrote of Krimmel: ,,He was candid and honest to every one, very blunt to those who asked his opinion, but too kind of feeling to wish to wound. He was free to communicate anything he knew, he had no secrets to sell."(121) Krimmel may have given informal advice to other young artists; a note in a sketchbook about ,,Mr Doughty" suggests Krimmel may have had a personal association with Thomas Doughty as early as 1819, a year before the young leather currier of Philadelphia abandoned his craft for landscape painting.(122) One of Krimmel's patrons was as complimentary as Neagle. Francis B. Winthrop, Dunlap wrote in 1834, ,,had corresponded with the artist, but had not seen him. One day a man entered and announced himself in a manner partly characteristic, and partly the effect of foreign education, "I am Krimmel." Mr. Winthrop was soon much pleased with his guest."(123) 

William Dunlap offers the most incisive comment on Krimmel's personality. He wrote after interviewing Krimmel's acquaintances for information published in A History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States: ,,His simplicity of manners endeared him to his friends, and his shrewd remarks made him at all times an entertaining companion. There was a downright bluntness in his conversation which, although justly appreciated by those intimate with him, did not serve to smooth his path in life, perhaps even retarded his progress."(124) Pervaded as Dunlap's views of art and artists were by the religious ideals and moral standards of his generation, he wrote with sincerity: ,,I do not recollect any foreigner, who has visited America, who had superior claims to admiration as an artist, and esteem as a man, to Mr. Krimmel."(125) 

Notes:

l. Abraham Ritter, ,,Recollections of the Village of Nazareth, Northampton Co., in the More Primitive and Unsophisticated Times of 1809-10 & 11," 1855, MS, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 119. Ritter, who was an intimate of the Krimmel family introduces the quotation about Krimmel's death with the comment: ,,His brother George lamenting the calamity said . . 

2. Joseph Halm, Stadtspiegel Ebingen, ein handuch für einheimiche und unsere gäste (Ebingen, Germany, n.d.), 38-39. Ebingen is first mentioned as a villtage in 793 (17). 

3. Administration Papers for the Estate of Johannes Krimmwl, Ebingen Court Records. 

4. The marriage of Krimmel's parents and the birth of their children are recorded in the Evang. Kirchenregistampt, Ebingen. The surviving older children were Georg Friedrich (who anglicized his name to George Frederick), born on March 11, 1776, and Christiane Elisabetha, born on October 10, 1777. The date of Krimmel's birth has been a matter of confusion, for William Dunlap incorrectly reported it as 1787 in his A History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States (New York: George P Scott & Co., 1834), 2:234. This work has been republished in a facsimile edition (New York: Dover Publishers, 1969). The account of Krimmel in the first edition is quoted exactly, despite changes in biographies of other artists, such as in the edition of Dunlap's History prepared by Frank W Bayley and Charles E. Goodspeed (Boston: C. F. Goodspeed & Co., 1918), 2:391-96. This ed. is republished, with identical pagination, intr. William 1: Campbell, Alexander Wyckoff, ed. (New York: Benjamin Blom, 1965). My references are to the edition of 1834, which is conveniently avalable in the 1969 facsimile publication. 

5. Ritter, "Recollections," 119. 

6. Ebingen Court Records for 1796. 

7. Johann Jacob Krimmel was born May 5, 1750, and died April 21, 1796 . Dr. Walter Steffner to author, Ebingen, August 12, 1961). 

8. Interview with Dr. Walter Steffner, Ebingen, June 30, 1961; for Krimmel's sketchbook notations in Latin, see Sketchbook 3, p. 64. 

9. Ebingen Court Records document this sale on May 7; the three meadows sold for 861 floren (dated in a letter to the author from Dr. Walter Stettner, Ebingen, August 23, 1961). 

10. Their amount and the dates they were paid are 5 guilders on June 18, 1801; 6 guilders on September 22, 1801; 7 guilders on November 12, 1801; 155 guilders on April 24, 1803; and 508 guilders on June 9, 1805. When John Lewis Krimmel died intestate in 1821, George Frederick Krimmel entered bills for these sums and interest on them against his brother's estate; the court considered them valid, and he was reimbursed (Philadelphia County Courthouse, Department of Wills, Account of George F. Krimmel for the Estate of John Lewis Krimmel, Administration No. 187; hereafter referred to as Krimmel estate records). 

11. Information about the mother's death and arrangements among the children for her property are set forth in the Administration Papers for the Estate of Elisabetha Catharina Nördlingeren Krimmel, Ebingen Court Records. 

12. Her fourth child and second son, George Frederick Daser, died shortly after birth on January 17, 1810; her fifth child, Johann Ludwig Daser, was born on February 25, 1812, and eventually left Ebingen for Stuttgart, where he became a merchant (Dr. Walter Stettner to author, Ebingen, August 23, 1961). 

13. This letter is preserved in the Administration Papers for the Estate of Elisabetha Catharina Nördlingeren Krimmel in the Ebingen Court Records. 

14. For a convenient summary of this period in the history of the duchy, see Encyclopaedia Britannica, l4th ed., s.v. ,,Württemberg." 

15. On March 27, 1806, a businessman from the city of Tübingen brought suit in the city court of Ebingen to recover a small debt of 1795 from Johann Jacob Krimmel's estate; Paul Franz Daser appeared on behalf of the heirs. He stated he knew nothing about the debt, but that his brother-in-law, Johann Ludwig Krimmel of Stuttgart, might know the cicumstances concerning it (Dr. Walter Steffner to author, Ebingen, November 9, 1961). 

16. On July 17, 1809, Paul Franz Daser appeared in the the court of Ebingen for additional testimony in the suit opened on March 27, 1806, against Johann Jacob Krimmel's estate. Records of the proceedings note that Daser testified for his brothers in-law because George Frederick Krimmel was then in Philadelphia and John Lewis Krimmel was in England, where he was a merchant's assistant or clerk (Dr. Walter Stettner to author, Ebingen November 9, 1961). 

17. Dunlap, History, 2: 234-35. 

18. Diary of William Dunlap (1766-1839), 3 vols. Collections of the New-York Historical Society, vol. 64 (New York, 1930), 3:705, 714. 

19. Dr. Schefold in Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler, eds. Begründet von Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, s.v. ,,Seale, Johann Baptist." For additional details about Seele's career in Stuttgart, see Würtembergisches Landesmuseum Stuttgart, Ausstellung die Hohe Carlsschule, 4 November; 1959 bis 30. Januar1960 (Stuttgart [1959]), esp. 209-10. 

20. Dr. Schefold of the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, a student of Seele's career and author of the Seele entry in Thieme and Becker, Lexikon, cannot sub tantiate the relationship between Seele and Krimmel through his research on Seele or in surviving records in Stuttgart (Dr. Walter Stettner to author, Ebingen, August 18, 1959). 

21. The date of bis immigration is revealed by the ,,List of Passengers on Board Ship Frederick Augustus, Capt. Robinson Potter, from Amsterdam. Sept. 15, 1807," Pennsylvania Archives, ed. William H. Egle, 2d ser. (Harrisburg, Penn., 1890), 17:661. Abraham Ritter states in his ,,Recollections," 119, that G. F. Krimmel came to America as the agent for Hans Baethuser Deidrich Benckhand, a ,,trader" or merchant of Basel. 

22. Francis James Dallett, Jr., to author, Wayne, Pennsylvania January 8, 1958. 

23. James Robinson, Philadelphia Directory for 1808 (Philadelphia, 1808), s.v. ,,Krimmel, George Frederick." Subsequent Directories are listed by title only. 

24. U.S. District Court Records, District of Pennsylvania, Nauralization Department Records No. 582. When he took the oath for citizensbip, Krimmel incorrectly stated that he had been a resident of the United States for five years. 

25. George Frederick Krimmel entered a bill against his brother's estate to recover his expenses for the period John lived with him; he gives the date of November 1, 1809, as the beginning of that period (Kimmel estate records, G. F. Krimmel account). 

26. Dunlap refers to Rider as Krimmel's ,,countryman" (History, 2:234) and as a ,,German" (Appendix, History, 2: 471). Malvina and Mary Lawson identify Rider as a Swiss in the introduction to their ,,Alexander Lawson Scrapbooks," vol. 1 (Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia). 

27. Dunlap, Diary, 705, and History, 2:234. 

28. Henry Bradshaw Fearon, Sketches of America: A Narrative of a Journey of Five Thousand Miles through the Eastern and Western States of America, 2d ed. (London: Longman Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, 1818), 134. 

29. For the founding of Philadelphia and its original plan, see George B. Tatum, Penn's Great Town (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1961), 17-19. 

30. Anna Wells Rutledge, Foreward," Cumulative Record of Exhibition Catalogues: The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1807-7870, The Society of Artists, 1800-1814, The Artists' Fund Society 1835-1845 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society 1955), 1-2. 

310 Krimmel's brief association with his brother is recorded in Dunlap, Diary, 705, and in Dunlap, History, 2:235. 

32. Abraham Ritter specifically states that Krimmel lived in George Frederick's home in his ,,Recollections," 119. 

33. In 1821, George Frederick Krimmel entered bills for food, laundry and mending of clothing against his brother's estate for the thirty-five weeks from November 1, 1809, to July 5, 1810 (Krimmel estate records, G. F. Krimmel account). 

34. Ritter, "Recollections," 119. 

35. History, 2:235. Dunlap's comparison is to the miniatures Trumbull actually painted throughout his career. For typical examples by him see Theodore Sizer. The Works of Colonel John Trumbull: Artist of the American Revolution, 2d ed. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1967), figs. 20-24. 

36. The notation occurs in a Krimmel Sketchbook (Sketchbook 1, p. 44). Several men with the name "Jacob Smith" occur in the Philadelphia directories from 1809 to 1811. See The Philadelphia Directory for 1809 and The Philadelphia Directory for 1811. 

37. Poulson's American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia), October 13, 1821, p. 4. 

38. Fourth Annual Exhibition of the Columbian Society of Artists and the Pennsylvania Academy (Philadelphia, 1814), 30. 

39. Address on a letter from J. L. Krimmel to Samuel Coates, April 22, 1819 (Waldron Phoenix Belknap, Jr., Research Library of American Painting at the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum). 

40. Address mentioned in an essay entitled ,,Explanation of Plates," Analectic Magazine 8 (1820): 176. 

41. Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia, 1820), 16. 

42. Relf's Philadelphia Gazette and Daily Advertiser (hereafter dated as Relf's), 15 July 1821, p. 3. 

43. Seventh Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia, 1818), 18, and Catalogue Eighth Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia, 1819), 20. 

44. Poulson's American Daily Advertiser ( (Philadelphia), October 13, 1821 p. 4. 

45. Fourteenth Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvan nia Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia, 1825), 22. 

46. Eirst Annual Exhibition of the Society of Artists of the United States (Philadelphia, 1811), 45. 

47. Charter and By-Laws of the Columbian Society of Artiserts (Philadelphia, 1813), 7-8. 

48. Aurora General Advertiser (Philadelphia), April 13, 1819, p. l. 

49. Dunlap, History, 2:236-37, cites the artist John Neagle's remarks on this subject; Dunlap in his Appendix to History, 2:471, states that Rider painted miniatures. 

50. From engravings based on the genre paintings of David Wilkie, Rider produced The Rent Day-from Wilkie (Seventh Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts [1818], p. 8, No. 48) and The Blind Fiddler after Wilkie (Fourteenth Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts [1825], 8, No. 131). Rider's titles suggest that the following paintings may have been genre subjects: Council of Indians (Third Annual Exhibition of the Columbian Society of Artists and the Pennsylvania Academy [Philadelphia, 18131, 10, No. 94); Camp Meeting (Fourth Annual Exhibition of the Columbian Society of Artists and the Pennsylvania Academy, 20, No. 227); The Fortune Teller (Seventh Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Ans, 9, No. 80; The Soldier's Return (Catalogue Eighth Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 11, No. 189). 

51. Report of the Committee Appointed to Examine into the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Society of Artists of the United States (Philadelphia, 1812), 6-7. Hereafter cited as SAUS Committee Report. 

52. The Constitution of the Society of Artists of the United States (Philadelphia, 1810), l. 

53. SAUS Committee Report, 7. 

54. Birch and Lawson are listed as members in the Charter and By-Laws of the Columbian Society of Artists, 7-8. Thomas Birch (1779-1851) was the son of the artist William Russell Birch (1755-1834) and immigrated to Philadelphia from London with his father in 1794. He remarried in Philadelphia throughout his long career as a marine, landscape, portrait, and miniature painter His father moved from Philadelphia to ,,Springland," near Bristol, Pennsylvania about 1812 and did not live in the city again until 1828. Thomas Birch's residence in Philadelphia, as well as his being Krimmel's contemporary, suggest that the unidentified "Birch to whom Krimmel addressed a letter in 1812 or 1813 (see below, p. 22), whom Krimmel mentioned in a letter of 1820 (see below, p. 24), and who made a purchase from Krimmel's estate was the younger Birch and not the older. There is no evidence supporting this conclusion in the available papers of either member of the Birch family. For a study of Thomas Birch, see Doris Jean Creer, ,,Thomas Birch: A Study of the Condition of Painting and the Artist's Position in Federal America" (Master's thesis, University of Delaware, 1958). For a convenient summary of William Birch's career and bibliography concerning him, see George C. Groce and David H. Wallace, The New-York Historical Society's Dictionary of Artists in America, 1564-l860 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1957). Hereafter cited as Groce and Wallace, Dictionary of Artists. Lawson (1773-1846) was born in Scotland and immigrated to the United States in 1794. He was active in Philadelphia until his death and was especially recognized during the early nineteenth century for his engraved illustrations of Alexander Wilson's American Ornithology (1808-14) and Charles Lucien Bonaparte's supplement (1825-33). For a review of his career and pertinent bibliography, see Groce and Wallace, Dictionary of Artists. 

55. First Annual Exhibition of the Society of Artists of the United States (Philadelphia, 1811), 45. 

56. SAUS Committee Report, 7. 

57. First Annual Exhibition of the Society of Artists, 45. 

58. George Vertue used the phrase ,,conceited plaisant Fancies and habits" in 1737 to describe character studies, a type of subject introduced into English art by Philip Mercier (Ellis Waterhouse, Painting in Britain, 1530 to 1790 [Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1953], 14). Sir Joshua Reynolds uses the term fancy-picture in his Fourteenth Discourse, delivered to the students of the Royal Academy on December 10, 1788, to describe the rustic character studies and genre subjects of Thomas Gainsborough; the term frequently occurs in these senses in England in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (Sir Joshua Reynolds: Discourses on Art, ed. Robert R. Wark [New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 1975], 253-54; hereafter cited as Reynolds, Discourses). Ellis K. Waterhouse has studied the paintings by Gainsborough in his ,,Gainsborough's ,Fancy Pictures'," Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 88 (1946): 133-40. He limits the term to Gainsborough's paintings directly inspired by Murillo in which the figures are on the same scale as they occur in portraits and bear the same relation to a landscape background. The subjects are not intended to represent specific people, and they express the theme of rustic innocence. 

59. Second Annual Exhibition of the Society of Artists of the United States and the Pennsylvania Academy (Philadelphia, 1812), 28. 

60. The comments about Krimmel appeared in ,,Review of the Second Annual Exhibition," Port Folio 1 (1812): 24; the magazine and its position among publications of the early nineteenth century are considered by Frank Luther Mott, A History of American Magazines, 1741-1850 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1957), 223-46. 

61. Joseph Sansom (1767-1826) was a Philadelphian and a Quaker who devoted his life to travel, literature, and art. For a sketch of his career, see Charles Coleman Sellers, ,,Joseph Sansom, Philadelphia Silhouettist," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 88 (1964): 395-438. 

62. Perhaps William Rush (1756-1833) or his son, John (1782-1853). Both carved figureheads, and the father, who undertook a variety of commissions as a sculptor, was active in the Pennsylvania Academy after 1810 (Henri Marceau, William Rush, 1756-1833: The First Native American Sculptor [Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Museum of Art, 1937], genealogical table opp. p. 7, pp. 7-21, and Linda Bantel, ,,William Rush, Esq.," in William Rush: American Sculptor [Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1982], 9-30). 

63. Archives of American Art. Krimmel's reference to a ,,Life Academie" offers a basis for tentatively dating this letter. The Society of Artists was sponsoring a class in the rudiments of drawing and another in drawing from plaster casts owned by the academy by January 29, 1812; at this time, the society was considering another class in life drawing. Krimmel presumably was referring to the last of these schools in his letter (SAUS Committee Report, 23). 

64. Fifty Sketches and Studies for Portraits by Thomas Sully, 1783-1872, From an Old Sketchbook . . . (New York: Ehrich Galleries, 1924), no. 39, as quoted in Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., American Master Drawings and Watercolors (New York: Harper & Row for the Drawing Society, Inc., 1976), 83. 

65. Review of the Third Annual Exhibition of the Columbian Society of Arists and the Pennsylvania Academy," Port Folio 2 (1813): 140. 

66. Charter and By-laws of the Columbian Society of Artists, 7-8, and Bantel, ,,Rush", 17-18. 

67. ,,Minutes of the Board of Fellows: S.A.U.S." (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts), 21. 

68. Charter and By-Laws of the Columbian Society of Artists, 17. 

69. Dr. Walter Stettner to author, Ebingen, August23, 1961. 

70. George F. Krimmel's dated letter and the information that John Lewis Krimmel personally presented it survive in the Ebingen Court Records, Administration Papers for the Estate of Christiane Elisabetha Krimmelen Beck. 

71. Chronik des Bleichers Johannes Jerg, 1771-1825, ed. Joseph Halm (Ebingen, 1952), 135. 

72. Administration Papers for the Estate of Christiane Elisabetha Krimmelen Beck, Ebingen Court Records for 1817. 

73. Chronik des Bleichers Johannes Jerg, 135-36. 

74. Christina Beck estate records. 

75. Jacob Ritter, Jr (1784-1840), who was G. F. Krimmel's partner, sold his interest before the decline in price. This incident is mentioned in the anonymous ,,Biography of J. Ritter Jr. " (prepared in Philadelphia in 1836 by internal evidence), 74-75 (MS in the possession of Mrs. Henry Stoddard Ritter, Philadelphia). 

76. On the inside of the back cover of a sketch book (Sketchbook 4), Krimmel made a notation on sizes, apparently for lithographic stones, followed by the comment ,,for John Watts of New York," as well as another illegible comment concerning John Watts and lithography.  Several men named John Watts occur in the directories of New York during the second decade of the nineteenth century. Krimmel probably was making inquiries on behalf of the John Watts who was a stereotype printer and founder at Broome and Orange streets in 1814 (David Longworth, Longworths American Almanac,New-York Register, and City Directory [New York, 1814]. 

77. Theodore Sizer, ,,The American Academy of the Fine Arts," American Academy of Fine Arts and American Art-Union, Collections of the New-York Historical Society for 1943, Vol. 76 (1953): 15-20. 

78. Krimmel wrote the memorandum ,,John Appel [sic] No. 208 broadway New York" on the page of a sketchbook in context with drawings dated ,,21 Aug" and part of a sequence of drawings made in August of 1813 (Sketchbook 2, p. 2). John Appel is listed as the proprietor of a music store at 208 Broadway with a residence at 62 Anthony Street in Andrew Beers, Longworth's New-York Almanc, for . . . 1813 (New York, 1813). 

79. On the same page with a notation about John Appel (see preceding note), Krimmel made a notation ,,[?] Schroeder [?] of Broadway Seminary. A ,,C. Schroeder" was active as a portrait and miniature painter in New York City at intervals between 1811 and 1826 (Groce and Wallace, Dictionary of Artists). 

80. Krimmel refers to this relationship with Flandin in a letter of October 8, 1820, quoted in this chapter. Flandin (1781-1863), a merchant in New York City, became a member of the American Academy of the Fine Arts in 1820 and was active in various offices until 1839 (Sizer, ,,The American Academy of the Fine Arts," 70). Little is known of Flandin (death notice, The Evening Post [New York], October 9, 1863), but he was an early and active dealer in paintings. Among his customers was Robert Gilmor of Baltimore (W. G. Constable, Art Collecting in the United States of America: An Outline of a History [London: Nelson, 1964], 20). 

81. Winthrop owned and was exhibiting a painting by Krimmel in 1820 (No. 5). Winthrop (1787-1841) presumably was born in Boston. His family moved to New York City when he was a boy; he married in 1808 and remained in New York until 1823, when he moved to New Haven, Connecticut. As a wealthy dilettante, he was active in cultural circles. Washington Allston was another American artist represented in his collection. See Lawrence Shaw Mayo, The Winthrop Family in America (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1948), 265-71. Dunlap, History, 2:238, mentioned that Winthrop owned ,,several" paintings by Krimmel. 

82. The Aurora General Advertiser (Philadelphia), April 13, 1819, l. 

83. John Adams Paxton, The Philadelphia Directory and Register for 1819 (Philadelphia, 1819), advertising section. 

84. Dunlap, History, 2:236. 

85. Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 16. 

86. It has not been possible to identify conclusively this associate of Krimmel, but perhaps he was the ,,Schneider" mentioned in the correspondence of the Philadelphian Pierre Stephen Du Ponceau in connection with his interest in the New York news paper The German Correspondent. Schneider apparently traveled frequently between New York and Philadelphia and is mentioned as a courier by whom R. M. Schaffer planned to send a letter to Du Ponceau, a service similar to that ,,F. A. Schneider" was performing for Krimmel. (For mention of Schneider in Du Ponceau's correspondence, see Schaffer's letter of 22 May 1821, to Du Ponceau [Historical Society of Pennsylvana] and for Du Ponceau's interest in The German Correspondent, see Mott, American Magazines, 1741-1850, 191-92.) Krimmel was closely associated with Du Ponceau during this period, a circumstance further suggesting that F. A. Schneider may have been a mutual acquaintance (for a discussion of their relationship, see below, p. 26). 

87. Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Dreer Autograph Collection, II, F-M. 

88. John Lewis Krimmel to Samuel Coates, President of the Hospital, April 22, 1819 (the Waldron Phoenix Belknap, Jr, Research Library of American Painting at the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum). 

89. Thomas Sully to Samuel Coates, April 5, 1819, ibid. An endorsement, apparently by Coates, on the letter received from Krimmel (see preceding note), states that the proposal was rejected. 

90. Entry for April 18, 1820, Account Book of John Hill (New-York Historical Society). Hill (1770-1850) was an English aquatint engraver immigrating to Philadelphia in 1816 and remaining there unil 1822, when he moved to New York City (Richard J. Koke, "John Hill, Master of Aquatint, 1770-1850," New-York Historical Society Quarterly 43 [1959]: 51- 117). 

91. Du Ponceau (1760-1844) came to America from France in 1777, served in various capacities in the Revolution, and settled in Philadelphia in 1783. He remained in the city throughout his career. A brilliant lawyer, he also was exceptionally active in civic affairs. For an informative summary of his career, see William A. Tieck, ,,In Search of Peter Stephen Du Ponceau," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 89 (1965): 52-78. 

92. The date of his election is unknown, but at the time of his death in July he is listed as the president in Relf's, July 21, 1821,2. 

93. Dunlap, History, 2:237. 

94. David McNeely Stauffer, Thompson Westcott's History of Philadelphia [as printed in the Sunday Dispatch (Philadelphia)] Extra Illustrated and Extended to Thirty-Two Volumes (Philadelphia, 1913), 30:2380-381 (Historical Society of Pennsylvania). Westcott here reviews the commission in detail. The specific nature of his remarks suggests that he based his account on a printed or MS. statement. His source is not stated, and I have been unable to trace it. 

95. Founders of this organization are listed in the signers of the Constitution of the Society for the Commemoration of the Landing of William Penn (Philadelphia, 1825), 8. Du Ponceau served as the first president. 

96. An example of this interest is the anonymous ,,Memoirs of William Penn," Port Folio 3 (1814): 264-70. 

97. Benjamin West, for example, had given his Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple (1811) to the Pennsylvana Hospital in Philadelphia, where it was being exhibited (Groce Evans, Benjamin West and the Taste of His Times [Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1959], Pl. 4); Rembrandt Peale had exhibited his The Roman Daughter at tbe academy in 1812. See Charles Coleman Sellers, Charles Wilson Peale: Later Life (1790-1827), vol. 2 (Philadelphia: Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society 1947), 274-75; in 1816 the Pennsylvania Academy had purchased Washington Allston's The Deat Man Revived by Touching the Bones of the Prophet Elisha (Edgar Preston Richardson, Washington Allston: A Study of the Romantic Artist in America [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948], 196); and in 1818 Madame Anthony Plantou exhibited her Treaty of Ghent at her home (J. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott, History of Philadelphia [Philadelphia: L. H. Everets & Co., 1884], 2:1053). 

98. Stauffer, Thompson Westcott's History of Philadelphia Extra Illustrated, 30: 2380-381. 

99. The celebration in honor of Penn and the comments about the research for Krimmel's  painting occur in Du Ponceau's letter of 28 June 1821 to Roberts Vaux (Vaux Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania). 

100. Humphrys (1794-1865), whose name occasionally is spelled Humphreys, was born in Dublin, came to the United States during his youth, and gained his skill as an engraver from the Philadelphian George Murray. He returned to England abont 1827. For a summary of his career and bibliography, see Groce and Wallace, Dictionary of Artists. Humphrys is recorded as the Secretary for the Association of American Artists during this period in Relf's, July 17, 1821, 3. 

101. Henrv Simpson, The Lives of Eminent Philadelphians Now Deceased (Philadelphia; William Brotherhood, 1859), 2:630. 

102. The hiring of Cannon's services is recorded in the account of Dr. David Condie, Krimmel estate records. 

103. ,,Verzeichnis der Tauf-Traunge-und Bergerabnis-Register der St. Michaelis und Zion Gemeinde," entry for 17 July 1821 (Microfilm Records, Vol. 5 [January 5, 1792-October 8, 1834], Lutheran Theological Seminar', Philadelphia). 

104. The cemetary in which Krimmel was buried was in use from 1777 to 1861, when it was selected as the site of a church. A resolution to disinter the bodies was enacted in 1868 and was executed in the following months. Bodies were reinterred in a cemetary at Thirty-Second and Lehigh streets. Shortly after this reburial, a street was plotted through the site and several bodies, induding a container of unidentified remains, were reinterred to another site unknown to present church historians (interview with Dr. E C. Houssmann, Professor Emeritus, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, March 31, 1955). A member of the Saint Michael's or Zion Congregation recorded at an unknown date many tombstone inseriptions in the cemetary where Krinimel was buried in 1821, but Krimmel's does not occur among them (,,German Tombstone Inscriptions in Burying Ground at Eighth and Franklin Streets of the German Lutheran Church," Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania). 

105. Robinson (?-1829) was an English portrait and miniature painter active in Philadelphia by 1816 (see Groce and Wallace, Dictionary of Artists). 

106. Relf's July 28, 1821. 

107. The amount of Krimmel's savings are recorded in Dr. David Condie's account of Krimmel's estate and the evaluation of clothing in George F. Krimmel's account, Krimmel estate records. 

108. This piece of furniture, as well as other possessions not specifically documented in this discussion by another source, and the paintings and drawings are listed in a notice of an auction for Krimmel effects (Relf's, August 7, 1821). 

109. Krimmel estate records, Condie account. 

110. Wertmüller (1751-1811) was a portrait, historical, and miniature painter who was born in Sweden and studied there and in Paris and Rome. He first came to America from 1794 to 1796 and in 1800 made his permanent residence in America near Wilmington, Delaware. His wife died on January 19, 1812, a year after his death, and most of her possessions were sold at auction in Delaware on February 26, 1812. The largely unsold paintings and drawings were taken to Philadelphia, where they were at first offered for sale privately, then auctioned later in 1812. For items in this sale, see Michel Benisovich, "The Sale of the Studio of Adolph-Ulrich Wertmüller," trans. Adolph Cavallo, Art Quarterly 16 (1953): 20-39. For additional biographical information concerning Wertmüller, see Franklin D. Scott, Wertmüller--Artist and Immigrant Farmer (Chicago: Swedish Pioneer Historical Society, 1963). 

111. There are no indications that Dr Condie (1796-1875) was an intimate of the Krimmel family; he probably was serving on behalf of the Orphan's Court. He received his degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1818 and during his career in Philadelphia wrote and edited medical treatises and books (James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography [New York, 1888], 1:765). 

112. Krimmel estate records. 

113. lbid., Condie account. Some of the items he bought at this time probably are represented among the Krimmel works he later owned (Watercolors nos. 65, 67, 70-74, 80-94; and oil paintings nos. 32 and 45). 

114. Ibid, Strickland (1788-1854) is best known as an architect, but after moving to Philadelphia from New York in 1809, he supplemented his income through painting, engraving, and lithography. He was active in the art circles of Philadelphia during Krimmel's period, and the two men undoubtedly were acquainted. Strickland, for example, belonged to the Columbian Society of Artists in 1813. For a summary of his life during these years, see Agnes Addison Gilchrist, William Strickland: Architect and Engineer, 1788-1854, rev. ed. (New York: Da Capo Press, 1969), 2-5. For two paintings owned by William Strickland, see nos. 33 and 41. 

115. Murray (?-1822) was a native of Scotland who emigrated to the southern United States, then moved to Philadelphia about 1800. About 1810 or 1811, he became one of the founders of Murray, Draper, Fairman & Co., a firm specializing in the engraving of banknotes, and he remained in Philadelphia until his death. For a summarv of his career and pertinent bibliography, see Groce and Wallace, Dictionary of Artists. The purchase by ,,M. Murray" from Krimmel's estate is recorded in the Krimmel estate records, George F. Krimmel account. 

116. Grelaud advertised the auction in Relf's August 7, 1821. The sum realized from the auction is recorded in the Condie account, Krimmel estate records. 

117. Dunlap, History, 2:236-37, quotes from a letter by Neagle in which he cites his purchase of the brushes and his gift to Rider. 

118. Krimmel estate records, Condie account. Samuel Kennedy was the carver, gilder, and looking-glass manufacturer who was a member of the Association of American Artists and managed the exhibition rooms of the society in his shop (see Kennedy's advertisement in the unnumbered pages preceding the directory in Paxton, 1819 Philadelphia Directory. 

119. Arguments over Krimmel's request for reimbursement of the sums given his brother during his youth delayed settlement (see above, n. 10). Condie claimed these sums were paid to John Lewis Krimmel's relatives and administered by them for his benefit; the estate, he concluded, was not responsible for them because John did not receive them directly. Condie also claimed that relatives in Germany held as much right to the estate as George F. Krimmel (Orphan's Court of Philadelphia, Docket Book 28 [1821-23], pp. 270, 350, 375, and Docket Book 29 [1823-24], p. 58). 

120. Krimmel is not listed among the immigrants living in Philadelphia who were naturalized during tbis period and who are recorded in the Philadelphia Public Library copy of the ,,Alphabetical Index of Naturalization Records, 1794-1880." This index indudes all courts where naturalization took place in Philadelphia. 

121. Neagle's comments about Krimmel occur in Dunlap, History, 2:236-37. Neagle (1796-1865) grew up in Philadelphia and received instrucions there from several artists, including Bass Otis. His professional career started in 1818 (for a biographical summary and pertinent bibliography, see Groce and Wallate, Dictionary of Artists.

122. Doughty was a member of the Association of American Artists in 1819 (Aurora General Advertiser [Philadelphia], April 13, 1819). Krimmel's reference to Doughty occurs in Sketchbook 5, p. 30; notations in his book indicate it was in use in 1819. The complete text of Krimmel's note is "Mr Doughty/No. 129/South llth St." A "Mr Doughty" does not occur at this address in the city directories of 1818, 1819, or 1820. Thomas Doughty is listed as a currier at 31 Elfreth's Alley in 1819 (Paxton, Philadelphia Directory) and is listed at other addresses in the preceding and following years. It is, therefore, by no means certain that Krimmel's reference is to the artist, but it is, nevertheless, possible that he noted an address where Doughty lived at an interval between those listed in the directories. Doughty (1793-1856) was born in Philadelphia and lived there until 1832. He probably was mainly self-taught while working as a leather currier. There are no references to Krimmel in Howard N. Doughty's "Life and Works of Thomas Doughty" (New-York Historical Society). For Doughty's career and pertinent bibliography, see Frank Henry Goodyear, Thomas Doughty, 1793- 1856: An American Pioneer in Landscape Painting (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1973). 

123. Dunlap, History, 2:238. 

124. Ibid. 

125. Ibid., 234.