Fraktur (Drawing)

Description

The Easter rabbit or bunny and colored eggs are traditions brought to America by culturally Germanic immigrants during the 18th century.  In the German language, the Easter rabbit or bunny was known as the Oschter Haws (Easter hare). This small colorful watercolor is one of the earliest known depictions of the Easter bunny in America.  A closely related drawing is in the collection of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center at Colonial Williamsburg (59.305.3). That drawing had long been celebrated as the earliest known American depiction, but the example now at Winterthur can vie for the title. It is unknown which drawing was made first, but both are firmly attributed to the same schoolmaster Johann Conrad Gilbert, who emigrated from Germany in 1757 and settled in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.  About 1780, he moved to Berks County, where he lived until his death in 1812. He painted Winterthur's Easter bunny on laid paper with the watermark “PU,” used by paper maker Peter Ulrick who worked during the late 1700s and early 1800s in Cocalico Township, Lancaster County.