Jean Frédéric Oberlin (engraving)
Title/Subject: Jean Frédéric Oberlin (French, 1740-1826)
Artist: Charles-Louis Schuler (French, 1782-1852)
Date: 1803
Type: stipple engraving
Medium: ink on paper
Dimensions: 9" h x 6.75" w
Collection: Paintings, Prints, Drawings and other Framed Items (RG 40)
The town of Oberlin, Ohio and its college were founded in 1833 and named in honor of Jean-Frédéric (anglicized John Frederick) Oberlin, a French Lutheran pastor, social reformer, and innovator in education, particularly of women and children. Originally from Strasbourg, Oberlin served in a remote, poor region called the Ban de la Roche in the Vosges mountains in Alsace, France until his death in 1826. He is the subject of an Archives virtual exhibition titled Oberlin's Namesake, and of the John Frederick Oberlin digital collection, with surrogates of items in the John Frederick Oberlin Collection. The engraving by Charles-Louis Schuler is one of a small number of items in the Archives that were produced in J. F. Oberlin's lifetime, by him or about him. This is the best likeness of this extraordinary man, the inspiration for the College and town in Ohio, in the College Archives. The artist stated, in the inscription at the bottom of the oval portrait, "dessiné d'aprés nature et gravé par Ch. L. Schuler, en 1803" (translation: drawn from life and engraved by Ch. L. Schuler in 1803). Under the prominent name of the subject, the artist states, "Ministre á Waldbach au ban de la Roche âgés de 62 ans" (translation: Minister at Waldbach in the Ban de la Roche age 62 years). In this way the artist makes it clear that he himself made this portrait in the presence of Oberlin himself, names Oberlin's age at the time, and dates the work as having been executed the same year as the sitting.
As this is an engraving from a metal plate, multiple copies of the work may exist in France, most likely at the museum in Waldbach, the village in which Oberlin lived. The Museums of the City of Strasbourg mounted a major exhibition with a catalogue, Jean-Frederic Oberlin, Le Divin Ordre du Monde, in 1990-91, for the 250th anniversary of Oberlin's birth. A copy of the catalogue is in the John Frederick Oberlin Collection in the College Archives.
Related Collections
Oberlin's Namesake (digital exhibit)
John Frederick Oberlin (digital collection)
John Frederick Oberlin Collection (RG 30/165)
John J. Shipherd Papers (RG 30/83) (co-founder of Oberlin, Ohio)
John William Kurtz Papers (RG 30/216)
Oberlin College Library holdings (OBIS)