1850 Joseph Prestele Broadside Views of New York and Hesse

This is a one-of-a-kind lithograph broadside by Joseph Prestele (1796 - 1867) encompassing the migration from Hesse, Germany to western New York of the pietist sect known as the Community of True Inspiration. It is a composite image narrating the journey from Germany to America of Prestele and his coreligionists. It illustrates the estates in Hesse, where the sect took root; the ship that brought Prestele and his family to America in 1843; the views of Staten Island visible from the ship; and panoramas of the three villages of Eben-Ezer where Prestele and the Inspirationists settled in the 1840s and 50s.

Celebrating The Inspirationists

This work is unique among Prestele's oeuvre, which is otherwise botanical in nature. Here, he presents a visual history of own emigration to America from Germany with the Community of True Inspiration. The Inspirationists - now the Amana Colony, Iowa - were established in Himbach, Germany, in the early 18th century but had a fitful start. After a brief flourishing, the group almost completely faded by the 1750s. Inspirationist doctrines were rediscovered in the early 19th century, leading to a new generation of believers. Christian Metz (1794 - 1867) emerged as a leader, consolidating the community during the 1820s and 30s in various settlements in Hesse. By the 1840s, there were nearly a thousand adherents. Although Hesse was comparatively liberal, there was sufficient pressure on the group to conform (the new Count of Ysenburg-Büdingenof began demanding personal fealty and children's attendance in public schools, for example.) Emigration became increasingly attractive. Metz and three others traveled to America in 1842, where they purchased 5,000 acres in western New York (near West Seneca, Buffalo.) Nearly 350 Inspirationists resettled there within a year, including the artist Prestele and his family. The settlement was named Eben-Ezer (meaning 'Thus far hath The Lord helped us') and (setting the pattern for the Amana Colonies) consisted of three villages: Upper, Middle, and Lower Eben-Ezer. Eben-Ezer was notable in that its members held all property in common. It flourished, growing to 1200 members and a total of six villages by 1854. The realization that they did not have sufficient land for sustained growth led to another migrating west, this time to Iowa, where they became the Amana Colony.

The Views

Prestele's broadside retells the history of the Inspirationists in eleven images. At the top are views of five original Inspirationist towns in Hesse, Germany: Marienborn, Ronneburg, Herrnhaag, Engelthal, and Arnsburg. Of particular interest were Ronneburg (hill castle at top center) and Prestele's home, Engelthal. Beginning in the 18th century and extending into the 19th, the Protestant aristocracy of Hesse made a practice of tolerating and renting out lodgings for budding Pietist sects; Ronneburg and Herrnhaag became home not only to the Inspirationists but also to the Moravian Brethren.

At center is the three-masted ship, Florida, which brought Prestele and his family to New York, arriving on September 30, 1843. The garlanded cartouche below the ship, reading in German 'Arrival in the Bay of New York' includes an opportunity to personalize the view: a dotted line provides space for dating one's own arrival in America. Immediately below the nautical view are two views of Prestele's first glimpses of America at the mouth of New York Harbor: Fort Tompkins, and the quarantine station for the City of New York, on Staten Island. The fort, as depicted here, was the original structure, later rebuilt in 1847. It is worth noting that Prestele provided no image of New York City. This is probably a deliberate omission as New York would have been considered the same kind of 'Babylon' that Prestele and the pastoral Inspirationists hoped to leave behind in Europe.

At bottom, Prestele presents views of the first three villages of Eben-Ezer, the Community's settlement in western New York. The Biblical source for the name - taken from Samuel 7.12 - is noted, emphasizing the community's religious focus. Their orderly houses, rolling fields, and careful plantations entice the viewer. There were three further villages established in Eben-Ezer after 1850, suggesting that at least the drawings upon which this print was based were made prior to 1850.

Supporting the Growth of the Community

All of Prestele's other surviving works were botanical in nature. None of it was signed - a mark of humility, with the artist's own history appearing only within the content of the images. As a committed Inspirationist, all of Prestele's work was dedicated to the community. In that context, this broadside was not simply decorative but offered utility to the Inspirationists as a whole.

The audience for the broadside, based on its language, were German-speakers. The blank space in the cartouche for 'Arrival in New York Bay' implies either that the audience had already arrived from Germany, or had yet to do so. So the broadside served one purpose in encouraging future emigrants, but for those who had already made the journey, it expressed a continuity of common experience: the Inspirationists' roots in Hesse, their shared journey to America, and their new home of Eben-Ezer. It is an image that would continue to resonate with the community as it moved further west to Iowa.

Publication History and Census

This lithograph was executed by Joseph Prestele - after 1850, but not after 1854 when the Inspirationists left Eben-Ezer. Hoehnle, in his 2018 article on the broadside, identifies two states of the work - one consisting only of the German and nautical scenes, and one including a trumpet motif and a passage from Revelations at the top. The present example appears to be an intermediate state between these. No examples of any state can be found cataloged in institutional collections. One example of the putative third state survives in the collection of the Prince of Ysenburg. We see no record of any appearing on the market.