$300
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Description
5" (13 cm.) x 4" frames. Each is an oval painting on parchment with mottled grey or blue background, depicting semi-profile views (facing each other) of a slender woman with ringlet curls around her face, wearing a simple gown with ruffled neckline and high waist, and a white-haired gentleman with strong features, wearing ministerial robes; presented in original matching frames. The portraits are identified on the reverse as Grandmother Temme (b. 1791, married 1809) with note that the portrait was painted in 1812; and Grandfather Rev. Ferdinand Conrad Temme, Professor of Philosophy and Philology (b. 1768, d. 1832). Excellent condition. Temme, the German scholar and schoolmaster was forced to leave his native Germany in 1806 when Napoleon invaded his fatherland. Fleeing to the United States for what was to be a temporary stay, embargoes obliged him to remain and he accepted a ministry in Philadelphia, and later was called to the Lutheran Church at Lunenberg, Nova Scotia which he ungraciously described as the "Siberia of America". In later years, he was noted for his editing and publishing of two important biblical works which are of great value today. Portraits of the couple are virtually unknown.