Friedrich Richard Petri (1824–1857) was a German-born Texas painter whose works recorded life in the original German immigrant settlements, and portrayed Native American tribes in family settings.

Early life

Friedrich Richard Petri was born on July 31, 1824, in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

to master shoemaker Heinrich Petri and his wife Juliane Dorothea (Weise) Petri. At age fourteen, Petri was enrolled at the

Dresden Academy of Fine Arts The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (German ''Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden''), often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany. The present institution is the product o ...

where he would remain for eleven years under the tutelage and guidance of

Adrian Ludwig Richter Adrian Ludwig Richter (September 28, 1803June 19, 1884) was a German painter and etcher, who was strongly influenced by Erhard and Chodowiecki. He was a representative of both Romanticism and Biedermeier styles. He was the most popular, and ...

and

Julius Hübner Rudolf Julius Benno Hübner (27 January 1806 – 7 November 1882) was a German historical painter of the Düsseldorf school of painting. He was also known as a poet and the father of Emil Hübner, a distinguished classical scholar. Lif ...

. Petri won six awards and a scholarship to a further education in Italy, upon completion of which he was to return to the Dresden institution as an instructor. Petri was unable to accept the offer due to physical frailty.

Hermann Lungkwitz Hermann Lungkwitz (1813–1891) was a 19th-century German-born Texas romantic landscape artist and photographer whose work became the first pictorial record of the Texas Hill Country. Early life Karl Friedrich Hermann Lungkwitz was born on Marc ...

, who married Petri's sister Elisabeth, befriended Petri while at the Dresden academy. Petri and Lungwitz joined other students in the failed 1849

May Uprising in Dresden The May Uprising took place in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony in 1849; it was one of the last of the series of events known as the Revolutions of 1848. Events leading to the May Uprising In the German states, revolutions began in March 1848, start ...

, an event at the tail end of the

Revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

resulting from the refusal of Frederick Augustus II to recognize a

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

Texas

In 1850, the Lungkwitz and Petri families emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, landing first in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. They migrated to

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

, but decided on the destination of Texas in 1851. Their journey took them by ship to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

and Indianola, and then riding an oxcart to

New Braunfels New Braunfels ( ) is a city in Comal County, Texas, Comal and Guadalupe County, Texas, Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas known for its German Texan heritage. It is the county seat, seat of Comal County. The city covers and had a popula ...

. In 1852, the two families bought a 320-acre farm for $400 in the settlement of Pedernales, Texas near Fredericksburg and took up farming and cattle ranching. Future Texas politician

Jacob Kuechler Jacob Kuechler (1823–1893) was surveyor, conscientious objector during the Civil War, and commissioner of the Texas General Land Office. Kuechler pioneered the science of Dendrochronology to date natural events. Early life and education Jacob ...

married Petri's sister Marie in 1856, and became a part of the family business. Like many German immigrants to the American South, the Lungkwitz and Petri families chose not to own slaves but worked their farms themselves. Petri's health remained frail for the duration of his life, but he continued his pencil sketches and watercolor paintings. His work reflects a fascination with the casual amicability between German settlers and local tribes of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

, Penateka Comanche and

Lipan Apache Lipan Apache are a band of Apache, a Southern Athabaskan Indigenous people, who have lived in the Southwest and Southern Plains for centuries. At the time of European and African contact, they lived in New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and ...

, with meticulous attention to physical appearance, attire and lifestyle .

Death

Petri drowned in the

Pedernales River The Pedernales River ( ) is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately long, in Central Texas in the United States. It drains an area of the Edwards Plateau, flowing west to east across the Texas Hill Country west of Austin. The name "Pede ...

during the winter of 1857, and is buried in the family cemetery in

Gillespie County, Texas Gillespie County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 26,725. The county seat is Fredericksburg. It is located in the heart of the rural Texas Hill Country in Centra ...

Notable works

*''Self Portrait'' *''Plains Indian with Shield'' *''Plains Indian Warrior in Blue'' *''Mounted Plains Indian with Lance'' *''Indian Woman on Saddled Mule'' *''Indian Watering Pony'' *''Bartering with an Indian'' *''The Pioneer Cowpen'' *''Going Visiting'' *''Fort Martin Scott'' (unfinished) 1853 gathering of Lipan Apaches, interpreters, soldiers and settlers.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Petri, Friedrich Richard 19th-century German painters 19th-century American male artists German male painters 19th-century American painters American male painters 1824 births 1857 deaths German emigrants to the United States Artists from Texas German-American culture in Texas People from Fredericksburg, Texas Painters from Texas