Pennsylvania Art During the American Revolution
June 08, 2026
Dr. Sara J. Cornell
During the era of the American Revolution, Pennsylvania emerged as one of the cultural centers of the colonies. Philadelphia, in particular, became home to many of the nation’s earliest portrait painters and historical artists. Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Pocono region, however, developed differently. The area lacked large cities, established academies, and wealthy patrons who traditionally supported fine art. As a result, few well-known professional artists were based permanently in the Poconos during the Revolutionary period.
Several factors contributed to this absence of a formal art community. Much of northeastern Pennsylvania remained frontier territory throughout the eighteenth century, with scattered settlements and limited infrastructure. Cultural institutions such as museums, academies, and formal art schools had not yet developed in the region. Ongoing conflicts, including the Yankee-Pennamite Wars between settlers from Pennsylvania and Connecticut, also disrupted stability and economic growth. In such an environment, artistic production tended to be practical, portable, and deeply connected to everyday life.
One of the most vibrant artistic traditions to emerge in Pennsylvania during this period was Pennsylvania German Fraktur. Produced primarily between the 1760s and the mid-nineteenth century, Fraktur combined German blackletter calligraphy with colorful watercolor illustrations. Created largely by the Pennsylvania Dutch communities, these works served both decorative and practical purposes.
Fraktur pieces often featured bright colors and elaborate designs incorporating birds, hearts, tulips, and angels. They were commonly used as religious keepsakes and family records, including birth certificates, baptismal certificates, marriage records, house blessings, and decorated bookplates. Rather than being created by formally trained artists, most Fraktur works were produced by artisans, clergy members, and schoolmasters. Many remain unsigned today.
Notable Fraktur artists included Johann Heinrich Otto, Samuel Bentz, and Jacob Maentel. The tradition began primarily in southeastern Pennsylvania, particularly in Berks and Lehigh Counties, before gradually spreading northward into Monroe County and other parts of northeastern Pennsylvania.
While permanent studios were rare in the Poconos, traveling artists known as itinerant portrait painters brought art directly to rural communities. These painters moved from town to town, likely visiting places such as Easton, Stroudsburg, and Wilkes-Barre. Without fixed studios, they often exchanged their artistic services for food, lodging, or modest payment.
Most itinerant painters were self-taught and offered affordable portraits to middle-class families, merchants, landowners, and rural professionals. Their works documented prosperous families and daily rural life before the invention of photography. In addition to portraits, many painted signs, military figures, and landscapes.
Because art supplies were difficult to obtain on the frontier, painters frequently relied on locally sourced materials to create pigments. Berries, crushed walnuts, clay, chicken bones, and boiled eggshells were sometimes used to produce paints and dyes.
Several artists associated with Pennsylvania’s folk and itinerant traditions gained regional recognition. In 1771, William Bache traveled throughout Pennsylvania and neighboring states as a silhouettist, creating likenesses using a physiognotrace device. Edward Hicks, who began working in Pennsylvania around 1780 as a sign and carriage painter, later became famous for his folk paintings, especially his many versions of The Peaceable Kingdom. By 1821, Charles Hoffman became known for paintings of Pennsylvania almshouses, Berks County landscapes, and scenes of rural life. Many works by itinerant artists, however, were never signed and have since been lost.
Although few major artists were based in northeastern Pennsylvania itself, several important painters connected to Pennsylvania helped shape early American art during and after the Revolutionary period.
Matthew Pratt (1734–1805) — Born in Philadelphia, Matthew Pratt apprenticed under his uncle, painter James Claypoole. By the late 1750s he was already painting portraits professionally. From 1764 to 1768, Pratt studied in London under fellow Pennsylvanian Benjamin West. After returning to America, he painted portraits throughout Philadelphia, New York, and Virginia. Pratt’s work reflected both colonial American traditions and European artistic influences.
Benjamin West (1738–1820) — Benjamin West began his career as a portrait painter in Pennsylvania before studying abroad and eventually settling in England. He became one of the most important historical painters of his era, known for grand depictions of mythological and historical subjects. His portraits and historical works earned international acclaim, helping establish American-born artists within the European art world.
Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827) — Charles Willson Peale became one of the most influential artists of Revolutionary America. Best remembered for his portraits of leading Revolutionary figures, Peale painted many prominent statesmen, including George Washington. Beyond painting, he founded one of the first major museums in the United States in Philadelphia, combining art, science, and natural history collections.
Jacob Eichholtz (1776–1842) — Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Jacob Eichholtz became known for portrait painting in the Romantic Victorian style. Raised within Pennsylvania German culture, he spent much of his professional career in Philadelphia, where he painted members of the growing middle and upper classes during the early nineteenth century.
John Lewis Krimmel (1786–1821) — John Lewis Krimmel, often called “the American Hogarth,” became America’s first major painter of genre scenes. Born in Germany, he immigrated to Philadelphia in 1809 and joined the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Unlike many earlier artists who focused primarily on formal portraits, Krimmel painted lively scenes of everyday American life.
Among his most famous works are Fourth of July, Center Square and Election Day, both celebrated for their crowded and energetic depictions of ordinary citizens. Krimmel was also among the first American artists to portray free Black Americans in his paintings, including Black People’s Prayer Meeting (1813). His observational approach strongly influenced later American artists such as William Sidney Mount, George Caleb Bingham, and Thomas Eakins.
Although the Pocono region and northeastern Pennsylvania lacked the formal art institutions found in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary era, the region still fostered a rich visual culture rooted in folk traditions and itinerant craftsmanship. Pennsylvania German Fraktur, traveling portrait painters, and self-taught artisans documented the lives, beliefs, and aspirations of early Pennsylvanians. At the same time, artists connected to Pennsylvania — including Benjamin West, Charles Willson Peale, Matthew Pratt, Jacob Eichholtz, and John Lewis Krimmel — helped define the foundations of American art during the Revolutionary period and beyond.
