Digitizing a unique and delicate manuscript makes its many mysteries accessible.
What does a museum do with a devotional manuscript too fragile to display? How do museum curators balance their responsibility to preserve with their commitment to accessibility?
Dr. Stephanie Delamaire, Winterthur’s curator of fine art, contemplated these questions when the museum received the Denig Illuminated Manuscript, a gift from Alessantrina and David Schwartz and the Schwartz Foundation. This rare 18th-century devotional manuscript promises insights into the complexities of artmaking in the early American borderlands. “Our job,” says Delamaire, “is not only to preserve it, but also to curate it and make sure it’s available and relevant to a wider audience.”
Bound in leather in the 1780s, the manuscript was created by Ludwig Denig, a Pennsylvania German man whose skills as a shoemaker and later apothecary likely played a part in the manuscript’s creation and binding. But Denig’s faith also left its mark on the manuscript. His Pietist leanings and his connections to both Lutheran and Dutch Reformed churches surface in the book’s hymns, personal and devotional texts, and ink-and-watercolor drawings of Biblical scenes and martyrdoms, which include events from the Passion of the Christ.
Fully experiencing the Denig Manuscript requires carefully leafing through more than one hundred pages of brittle, centuries-old paper. But each turn of the page threatens the integrity of the manuscript. To preserve this remarkable object while still sharing its story, Dr. Delamaire is taking a digital approach to its curation and interpretation. With the help of a grant from the Getty Foundation’s Paper Project and a grant from the Schwartz Foundation, Winterthur will work with the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, a team of specialists, and community partners to create a digital platform that allows visitors to explore the manuscript’s contents in rich detail, with translations and readings of the text, professional recordings of hymns, and essays by leading scholars.
The digital platform will also place the manuscript in the context of Ludwig Denig’s life and times. Denig created his manuscript during a period of conflict in the early American borderlands. He was born during the French and Indian War, a child at the time of the 1763 massacre of the Conestoga Indians in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which took place within blocks of his childhood home. Denig also served as a private during the Revolutionary War. Could this proximity to violence have informed the contents of the manuscript? And what might Denig’s artistic practices reveal about early American traditions of artmaking?
The digital platform will also ask key questions about the Denig Manuscript’s connections to Pennsylvania German fraktur, an artmaking tradition well represented in Winterthur’s collection. Denig’s watercolors bear similarities to fraktur, but they are also stylistically unique, distinguished by his attention to visual narrative in his depictions of Biblical scenes and martyrdoms. Denig’s methods also depart from those traditionally associated with fraktur. His broad washes of transparent watercolor, for example, contrast greatly with the dense applications of opaque color evident in so many examples of fraktur.
Though small in size, this remarkable manuscript may just hold the answers to many unanswered questions. “There’s nothing like it anywhere,” Delamaire says. Until the digitization is complete in 2024 and available on the web, check back here and follow us on Instagram @WinterthurConservation for updates on our project and this wonderful object.
The Quarry Garden bridge offers several perspectives on a beautiful space.
A walk across the Quarry Garden bridge offers one of the most interesting and beautiful perspectives at Winterthur, an overhead view of a charming, unique area.
“We don’t have too many garden areas at Winterthur where you have a bird’s eye view into it and then you can also walk within it and then see it from down below,” says garden curator Carol Long. “When you’re within the bog, the bridge also serves as a focal point, framing the views to the distant field and woodland. It’s substantial yet you can see through it.”
The garden was one of the last areas H.F. du Pont designed for his magnificent estate. Beginning in 1961, he trucked in large rocks from a quarry in nearby Avondale, Pennsylvania, installed them as steps, benches, and terraced walkways in his own abandoned quarry at the base of Oak and Sycamore Hills, then planted primroses galore.
The various primroses seemed ideal for the boggy bottom of the bowl-like space. Fed by three springs, the area stayed moist throughout the year. The springs converged in a small rill that tumbles downhill over a series of weirs before spilling into a large pond.
Over the garden, du Pont installed a footbridge, a curving 100-foot span above the wetland that offers a range of views. From the deck, one can see open vistas. From below, one can see intimate views of the garden. Facing outward at the top of the bridge, one can see views of the pond and landscape beyond.
Things change, of course. Tree loss over time admitted more light, which changed conditions for the plantings. Some varieties of primrose, now perennialized, remain. The garden today is known for summer color from a theater of iris, foamflower, cardinal flower, lobelia, and more. Things seem to bloom from every nook and cranny.
“But it also has an amazing early spring component,” Long notes. “When we think about bulb displays at Winterthur, the March Bank comes to mind, but the Quarry Garden also has an impressive blue phase of glory of the snow with pockets of daffodils. Later in spring, you can see the combination of the primula in the bog and redbud flowers in bloom up on the surrounding Sycamore Hill. So it has that spring component in addition to all that summer color.”
All of that beauty is on an intimate scale that most people can relate to. “Many of Winterthur’s garden areas span several acres and cannot be seen from one vantage point,” Long notes. “Not many of us can relate to gardens of that scale. But we can relate to something the size of the Quarry Garden, especially when viewing the bog from the bridge. We see the garden in its totality. Aesthetically, it’s very, very pretty and can be seen from many different angles.”
The bridge, however, “is in pretty bad shape,” Long says. “It gets a lot of use, especially from our Members and our daily walkers.” The surface is deteriorating, so it needs to be redone, and other repairs will soon become necessary. The bridge remains a unique feature of the Winterthur landscape, which we’d like to maintain for future generations.
Would you like to contribute to the restoration of the Quarry Bridge? Your support will help ensure that the Quarry Bridge remains as H.F. du Pont imagined for the thousands of visitors who enjoy the Quarry Garden each year.
In 1961, Jacqueline Kennedy tapped Winterthur founder Henry Francis du Pont to lead her Fine Arts Committee, which she tasked with finding historic American furniture and art for her famous restoration of the White House interiors. The story of their partnership will be told in Jacqueline Kennedy and H. F. du Pont: From Winterthur to the White House, which opens May 7. Here are a handful of fun facts about the First Lady.
1. Kennedy first visited the White House when she was 11 years old.
And she was not impressed. Raised among wealth and privilege, she was already accustomed to fine homes. She “shuffled through” the White House, recalling later that “Mount Vernon and the National Gallery of Art made a far greater impression.” Upon becoming First Lady, she borrowed every book she could from the Library of Congress to learn more about the executive residence with an eye toward its restoration as a place of grandeur and historic significance.
2. Her mother knew “Harry” du Pont.
Their families traveled in the same elite social circles—“Of course I knew her mother,” du Pont later said of Janet Auchincloss—but Kennedy and du Pont had never met until he accepted her invitation to chair the Fine Arts Committee. Their 50-year age difference may have been a factor. After the committee’s work got underway, du Pont hosted Kennedy for lunch at his winter home in Boca Grande. It was their first meeting.
3. Kennedy’s personal tastes tended toward the continental.
Her family’s heritage was French, she had spent a year studying at the Sorbonne, and she was well schooled in European style by her friends Jayne and Charles Wrightsman, who were major collectors of 18th-century French decorative arts; however, Kennedy intuitively knew the People’s House should be distinctively American. Knowing du Pont to be the most knowledgeable collector of American decorative arts, Jayne Wrightsman suggested Kennedy ask him to chair the Fine Arts Committee. Of course, he knew Wrightsman, too.
4. Kennedy had to ease du Pont’s concerns about using French furniture.
Differing proposals for redecoration of the Red Room suggested furnishing with Empire pieces, using work by American maker Duncan Phyfe, or highlighting objects by French maker Charles-Honore Lannuier, who lived and worked in New York. Du Pont, of course, favored the American Phyfe. When he expressed concern about the committee’s accepting an imported mirror with an eagle in its design, Kennedy responded, “As long as it has the eagle, it doesn’t matter if it’s French.” In the end, Empire—French and American—won the day.
5. After visiting Winterthur, Kennedy forgot her handbag.
Whoops. After spending the day with du Pont at Winterthur, Kennedy and her entourage jumped up from the dinner table in a hurry to reach a flight back to Washington. They were well on their way when du Pont spotted the forgotten purse. He sent Assistant Curator Charlie Hummel and his wife, Marlene, on a speedy chase of the Secret Service down Route 52 in Delaware. Hummell’s wife, Marlene, made the handoff from the car. Mission accomplished.
Crocus tommasinianus photograph taken by Collin Hadsell
Check these out:
Tommies: The ‘Tommies’ (Crocus tommasinianus) are starting their display in the lawn of the East Upper Terrace of the Museum.
Snowdrops: Snowdrops (Galanthus species and varieties) are in bud or in bloom throughout the gardens. Blooms can be seen along the March Walk, in the Boxwood Garden on the East Upper Terrace of the Museum, and in the raised bed in the Museum east courtyard.
Winter color: The willow-leaf cotoneaster (Cotoneaster salicifolia) has brilliant red berries and dark purple leaves for a great show of color in winter.
Furry ‘winter coats’: The buds of the magnolias at Magnolia Bend and in the Sundial Garden are covered by fuzzy bud scales. The hairs that create the furry look are called trichomes.
ENTRANCE DRIVE AND PARKING AREA
ber Catalpa species (Catalpa – long, bean-like brown seed pods)
View of the duPont House from March Walk Winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis)
Check these out:
Terrific Tapestries of color:
The early crocus, ‘Tommies’ (Crocus tommasianus) are blooming throughout the gardens and are carpeting the East Upper Terrace of the Museum lawn in lavender and silver.
The winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) are creating a carpet of gold from Garden Lane across the lawn down to the East Upper Terrace of the Museum and also along the March Bank, in Azalea Woods, and along the walk to the Glade and koi ponds, in Enchanted Woods and in many other places in the gardens.
The yellow winter aconites and golden yellow Amur adonis (Adonis amurensis) merge into the white carpet of snowdrops (Galanthus elwesii & Galanthus nivalis) along the March Bank.
Snowdrops:
Snowdrops (Galanthus elwesii & Galanthus nivalis) are blooming throughout the estate, from the great drifts along the March Bank to small clumps and even individual flowers.
Many varieties of snowdrops (Galanthus varieties) in the collection in the raised beds along the East Museum terrace are in full bloom.
Witch hazel (Hamamelis species & varieties) are in full bloom in the Visitor Center lawn, in the Gallery lawn along Clenny Run, and on the Clenny Run side of the Museum Store, waving their blossoms that look like clusters of tiny ribbons. They look and smell magnificent!
LAGOONS
ber Celastrus scandens (American bittersweet – yellow husks, orange berries)
PARKING AREA TO VISITOR CENTER
fb Crocus tommasinianus (‘Tommies’ – lavender and silver)
Call for Artisan Market 2024 artisans! Present your outstanding wares to more than 5,000 visitors this summer at the Artisan Market in the beautiful setting of Winterthur’s garden and estate.
Events at Winterthur relate to the history, natural environment, and mission of the museum, garden, and library. Artisan Market evokes the mission of Winterthur by showcasing local artisans through a variety of handmade crafts relating to art, textiles, ceramics, glass, woodworking, antiques, and gardening as well as artisanal and small-batch gourmet goods. Each of these categories connects to Winterthur’s past, and we invite you to make a bit of your own history with us during this special weekend.
Please review all details below before applying to be considered for Artisan Market. All interested artisans will submit a vendor application for consideration. Please note: Deadline for applications is March 11, 2024. Winterthur will review all applications and notify artisans who have been selected by April 1, 2024.
2024 Artisan Market Weekend Schedule
Friday, July 19, 2024 | 12:00–6:00 pm
Saturday, July 20, 2024 | 10:00 am–4:00 pm
Sunday, July 21, 2024 | 10:00 am–4:00 pm
Vendor Load-in | Thursday, July 18 between 7:00 am and 4:00 pm. Exact time to be determined based on location of artisan space.
The Details
Please review the Artisan Market Vendor Information in its entirety prior to finalizing your application. The answers to many questions and important information about logistics are found in this document.
Application deadline is March 11, 2024.
Acceptance letters will be emailed by April 1, 2024.
Accepted artisans will have five (5) business days to remit payment for their space(s). After April 5, 2024, if payment has not been received, that artisan space will be relinquished.
A short waitlist will be kept for any artisans that were not accepted for the 2024 year.
Should an artisan no longer be able to attend, written notice must be made to Winterthur no later than May 20, 2024, to receive a full refund. No refunds will be given after May 20, 2024, for any artisans that are no longer able to attend. No exceptions can be made.
All artisans are required to have liability insurance and to add Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library to their insurance. Documentation will be required. Please refer to the Artisan Market Vendor Information for insurance company suggestions and a discount code.
For artisans interested in joining the 2024 Artisan Market, please review the Artisan Market Vendor Information document in its entirety prior to submitting your application. The application deadline is March 11, 2024.
Applications
Please review the descriptions for the types of applications being accepted for the 2024 Artisan Market and apply to the one that best corresponds to your wares.
ARTISAN TENT VENDOR APPLICATION [form ≫] For artisans interested in being beneath a 10′ x 10′ or 10′ x 20′ tent within the historic garden, please use this form.
MARKET BITES VENDOR APPLICATION [form ≫] For culinary artisans (food and beverage) interested in having a 6′ L x 4′ W x 40″ H wooden Market Stand with canopy, adjacent to the Brown Horticulture Learning Center and historic greenhouses, please use this form.
ASPIRING ARTISAN APPLICATION [form ≫] For emerging and up-and-coming artisans who have been in business fewer than three years and would like an 8′ table space within the Galleries Reception Area, please use this form.
GRANT APPLICATION [form ≫] For artisans who would like to be considered to receive a grant to join Artisan Market, please use this form.
A limited number of financial grants are available for vendors wishing to participate in Winterthur’s Artisan Market. Grants cover the cost of an artisan space in the Enchanted Woods hub ($400 value) for the entire Market weekend (July 19–21, 2024).
To apply for a grant, please complete the Grant Application by March 11, 2024. Grant recipients will be notified by April 1.
Sponsorship Opportunities
Explore our Artisan Market Sponsorship Opportunities and inspire 5,000+ visitors from across the region. The deadline for certain sponsorship levels will be April 1, 2024, to ensure that sponsorship information meets deadlines for printed materials.
Snowdrops: Snowdrops (Galanthus species and varieties) are in bud or in bloom throughout the gardens. Some blooms can be seen in the Peony Garden along the walkway at the end of the Brown Center, in the Boxwood Garden on the Museum upper terrace, along the March Walk, and in the raised bed in the Museum east courtyard.
Winter color: The willow-leaf cotoneaster (Cotoneaster salicifolia) has brilliant red berries and dark purple leaves for a great show of color in winter.
Furry ‘winter coats’: The buds of the magnolias at Magnolia Bend and in the Sundial Garden are covered by fuzzy bud scales. The hairs that create the furry look are called trichomes.
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ENTRANCE DRIVE AND PARKING AREA
ber Catalpa species (Catalpa – long, bean-like brown seed pods)
From the end of the 15th to the mid-19th century, tin-mercury amalgams were most often used to create the reflective surfaces on mirrors. Scientists at Winterthur have found that at least two-thirds of the mirrors in the collection contain these amalgams. Unfortunately, they are inherently unstable. Over time, the amalgam deteriorates, producing dark spots and a less reflective surface due to corrosion of the tin and reversion of the mercury to its natural liquid form.
As the mercury drips from the mirrors, it scatters on surfaces below and evaporates. Due to the toxicity of the mercury, that process is a health and safety concern.
For many years, dripping mercury mirrors in storage have been placed inside plastic bags to contain mercury droplets. Recent projects by conservation students revealed that mercury vapor levels are elevated to unsafe ranges inside storage bags. The mirrors are now stored on wire racks with an acid-free corrugated tray below. The open storage provides airflow around the mirror, preventing buildup of mercury vapors, while the tray captures mercury droplets so they don’t fall onto the floor below.
If you have these mirrors in your collection, be sure to handle them with nitrile gloves and keep them in the display orientation. After handling, dispose of the gloves and thoroughly wash your hands.
This rare, red-on-white printed handkerchief from the late 18th century shows General George Washington on horseback—and a large gray stain we wanted to reduce before it was exhibited in Hamilton & Burr: Who Wrote Their Stories? in 2019.
Past attempts to reduce the discoloration were minimally successful, so an unsightly muslin patch had been stitched over it. To improve its appearance, conservators need an exacting treatment to match the exacting block printing on both sides of the handkerchief.
Conservators first applied a series of poultices of cleaning solutions, chelators, and enzymes to the stain. The poultices reduced the gray coloration only minimally, so masking the stain remained the best treatment option.
Conservators created the mask by tinting a sheer Japanese tissue and super-fine silk crepeline with fabric paints and dyes to match the color of the handkerchief. They shaped the tissue with a small, damp brush, then pulled the wet tissue apart to feather the edges. The shaped tissue was fixed over the darkest areas with a water-soluble paste of methyl cellulose and wheat starch, then a patch of crepeline was pasted over the entire stain.
The treatment successfully reduced the appearance of the discoloration while allowing the weave of the fabric to show through. A layer of gray fabric between the handkerchief and its support mount further reduces the appearance of staining. The water-based paste can be reactivated, which makes the treatment reversible.
After its display in Hamilton & Burr, the handkerchief—inconclusively attributed to textile printer John Hewson, of Philadelphia—was returned to its original location in the house in Bertrand Hall.
