Martin Brechall (c. 1757–1831) was an American

fraktur Fraktur () is a calligraphic hand of the Latin alphabet and any of several blackletter typefaces derived from this hand. The blackletter lines are broken up; that is, their forms contain many angles when compared to the curves of the Antiqu ...

artist. European in origin, Brechall came to the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of Kingdom of Great Britain, British Colony, colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Fo ...

sometime before the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, in which he fought; an 1818 pension application states that he enlisted in April 1777 and reenlisted until 1783. During the war he saw action at the battles of Short Hills, Brandywine, and

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

, among others, and was also present at the surrender of Charles Cornwallis. Later in life, Brechall became a schoolmaster in Weisenberg Township, Lehigh County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He produced baptismal certificates for children in the neighborhood, residents of about a dozen towns in Lehigh and Berks Counties. A handful of pieces from Penn Township, at the time in Northumberland County, also exist, suggesting that he may have worked in the vicinity for a time; other pieces have also been found in

Schuylkill County Schuylkill County (, ; Pennsylvania Dutch: Schulkill Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the heart of Pennsylvania's Coal Region and is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the populat ...

. Brechall's work is typical of the style; however, he had certificates of his own design printed to speed the decoration process along, and he signed many of these, in the process becoming among the first fraktur artists to be named. Most of his pieces are painted in a palette of red and black, using hearts and rectangles as design elements. Sometimes he would add decoration such as an angel's head or an eagle, or a crown containing the alphabet. Besides baptismal certificates he designed a house blessing, a prayer for children, and presentation frakturs, many for the children he taught. He lived in an area inhabited mainly by members of the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

and

Reformed Church Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...

es, and consequently his art was produced for members of both faiths. Five works by Brechall are owned by the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

. A ''Child's Prayer of Thanksgiving'' is owned by the

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

. Other work is in the collections of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

, the Free Library of Philadelphia and

Franklin and Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Frankli ...

References

1757 births 1831 deaths American male painters 18th-century American painters 18th-century American male artists 19th-century American painters German emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies People from Lehigh County, Pennsylvania People of Pennsylvania in the American Revolution Fraktur artists Schoolteachers from Pennsylvania Painters from Pennsylvania 19th-century American educators 19th-century American male artists {{US-painter-stub